Traveling can always be a bit unnerving, especially when you have children in the party. Travel tips for recently divorced fathers taking their own children with them on their own for the first time might be doubly so. When the two of you, along with the kids, went somewhere, there always used to be two sets of hands and two minds working together. But as a single parent, all of the issues that traveling can throw at you will be magnified if you let them.

Traveling Tips For The Holidays

Before any journey, a conversation with the children will have be to be accomplished. The details of this adventure will have to be spelled out:

• Date and time of departure.

• How will the trip be accomplished: Car, train, airplane, bus, etc.

• Spell out when breaks or stops will be made and elicit suggestions about what toys, gear or reading materials will need to be included. If the children are old enough, ask for their input into those stops and plan them with their help.

• Take a short trip before the big one you are planning, maybe a few to establish and recognize how well the children will travel and how they react to things such as traffic, long freeways and stop and go travel in busy areas.

Thoughts and traveling tips that will make the adventure easier for them and you.

• Rent a van or SUV for that car trip so everyone will have a lot of space. Do not crowd kids especially if they are smaller yet out of car seats. They need room for their stuff.

• A lot of airlines will allow you and your children to board earlier than others. Talk with the flight attendant to ensure all seats are together with an extra seat available.

• Do not plan an air trip if any of the kids have an ear infection. Do not plan on any hikes for distances greater than a large parking lot, especially if luggage is to be involved.

• One of the best traveling tips to take to heart is, when traveling outside of the United States, ensure you find out what types of paperwork are needed. Not having this will often become rather embarrassing and time consuming.

A trip is for everyone involved, so share the fun and handle the work.

Kids are resilient, but they need to be given time for this to happen. You already know that the children were not the reason for your breakup, so they must be allowed to enjoy their time as kids. The traveling that is done during the holidays will often be to various relatives' homes. These should be as fun as possible and with the anticipation of this fun, the trip should be an extension of that.

Any traveling tips you gain should help you set the tone of a family holiday:

• The stops and breaks you take should be for stretching your legs and getting a quick snack.

• Organization, within the car, van or even the airplane, should be explained and demonstrated. This should include techniques used before the divorce because these might be well ingrained.

• While on the trip, ensure you keep track of all members of your party and maintain conversations with them so they are not lacking in distractions. This may be a bad time for some of them and they might need help to stay in the moment.

• Help ensure that this is about them even more than it is about what you want to do.

Once you arrive at a relative's house:

The holidays are for everyone. In many households, the relatives we don't see very often are the ones who spoil the kids and that is what they all remember. While it is okay to bend the usual rules during special events such as the holidays, it's important to stress to your relatives that your kids need to stick the rules. Because this is their first time away with only one parent, veering away from a structure until everyone is comfortable with the traveling arrangements could be difficult. Visiting your relatives is the reason for the trip you just went through and all of the things you had to remember and do and all of the planning that you are going to have to do again when you leave after the time you spend here.

Traveling tips, like these, will help you see that the holidays can be as much fun as you let the kids have while traveling together in harmony.