RV Travel With Children

RV travel and camping is a great way to pass along your love of the outdoors and the joys of travel to your children or grandchildren. RV travel can be a very rewarding experience for the entire family. Whether you have escaped the rat race and are a full-time RV nomad or just taking a RV camping vacation, RV travel and camping strengthens family relationships. The confinement of the RV gives the opportunity to spend quality time together as a family and really get to know one another. RV travel is a terrific way for parents or grandparents to develop strong bonds with the children. The freedom of a long road trip can be a very exciting and fun way of practicing decision-making as a team. So many sights to see and so many places to experience, RV travels are full of enlightenment and growth for all ages. Long road trips can be, at times, difficult for children but with a little planning you will feel rest-assured and enthusiastic about hitting the road with the young ones. Here are some tips to help you bring out the best in your RV experience.

• Involve the children in the planning procedure.

Before you even hit the road get the children involved. Involving the children is great way to help them develop important planning skills, problem solving skills and organization skills. Children almost always love when you ask them for their opinion and take great pride in giving their thoughts and ideas. This helps build a very strong unshakable foundation of confidence within them. The planning procedure shapes enthusiasm, excitement, and anticipation for RV travel and camping. Give the children choices and really listen to what they want and have to say. Work as a team. Take a vote when conflicting desires arise. Post a map and allow the children to draw a route of the entire trip. This is a great way to teach children map reading and direction skills. Supply each child with their own personal map and compass. Children love to learn and this will keep them involved and active the entire trip.

• Expect good behavior

Make and post a list of rules. Be sure to enforce it. It never hurts to have a little bit of leverage. Reward children with the activities, toys, games, snacks, etc. that they love and punish them by taking something away. You can also use campground activities as rewards for good behavior. Campgrounds provide a fun environment for children. Encourage team work by rewarding the entire family with an activity such as horseback riding, canoeing etc. Rewarding everyone for doing such a great job is very encouraging. Team work builds strong communication skills and teaches everyone to value and appreciate each other. Remember to follow the rules yourself. Children learn more by example than anything. Teach children to be responsible for themselves, respectful to themselves and to others.

• Understand child passenger safety.

Be aware of child passenger laws and follow them to a tee. There are differences in child passenger laws from state to state. Child passenger restraint requirements vary based on age, weight and height. No matter what state you are in be sure that children stay seated and belted while the RV is in motion. Stop the RV often and take frequent breaks to give everyone a chance to stretch and go to the restroom.

• Teach children to pay it forward.

Encourage random acts of kindness toward each other. Acts of kindness are small, simple, selfless acts done for others without expecting anything in return. Teach the children to look around and see if anything needs done at camp, in the RV or if anyone needs anything. Help mold acts of kindness and get them into the habit of doing one nice thing for someone everyday. Take turns talking about how doing nice things makes everyone feel about themselves.

• Get as crafty as a fox.

Busy minds need activities to participate in. Keep children entertained and focused by giving them special crafts to work on. There are lots of crafts that you can do while traveling. Many children will look forward to crafting. Some fun crafting include making jewelry, knitting, origami, aluminum foil art, paper dolls, sticker collages, sock puppets, etc. Choose crafts that are not very messy or require any scissors or sharp, dangerous objects. Prepare craft kits before-hand if scissors are necessary or pack child safety scissors to avoid any preventable accidents or injuries.

• Play games.

Keep children entertained, busy and happy for hours with fun games that they can play on the road. Bring a deck of cards and a book of card games. Road trips are a perfect opportunity to learn a new card game along with playing some all time favorites. Magnetic board games, especially the car version games are nice because they are small, compact and easy to play even on bumpy roads. Bingo is lots of fun to play in the RV. Plenty of places online offer free printable Bingo games. There are lots of road games that have no requirements other than participation and everyone can play together, even the driver. Some fun road games include I spy, the license plate game, the alphabet game, license plate poker, twenty questions, scavenger hunt and a is for armadillo. For extra fun, purchase small toys, crafts, special snacks, etc as prizes.

• Bring audio books

Audio books are a great way to keep children, and adults, entertained. While it is tempting to keep children quiet and behaved with DVDs, storytelling is a healthy way to encourage creativity, to teach listening skills, help build vocabulary and improve overall language skills. Audio books are also lots of fun.
Closing Notes: Create memories. Enjoy life. Have fun and be happy!