The Most Important Essentials For A Road Trip With Toddlers

The road trip is a rite of passage, whether it's a journey exploring Europe's heritage or a tour of the Midwest's most underrated cities. Hitting the highway to a far-flung destination is a phenomenal way to enjoy vacation time while bonding even more intensely with loved ones. Unlike the speed of a flight — and the chaos of traveling through a TSA security line or rushing to make a connection — cruising down the highway is time-consuming in all the best ways, allowing you to sightsee in a self-directed manner. Making pit stops wherever you fancy, changing course to explore an out-of-the-way hidden gem, or spending additional days in a small town that you've fallen in love with are integral to the experience rather than quirks in the system.

However, it's important to carefully curate your packing list, a feature that can change dramatically depending on who is traveling with you. When bringing a toddler on a road trip, quite a few additional details will need to be accounted for. While prevailing wisdom suggests you limit your time on the road to 10 hours per day (with some leeway for extenuating circumstances), a toddler completely changes the game. Small travelers need more time to stretch their legs, require additional bathroom and feeding breaks, and they need to explore the world directly! A different kind of packing list is necessary to support your small child. These are the essentials that must make it into the car to support your little one.

There are all manner of reasons why a child might end up needing a change of clothing — far more than the typical adult, anyway. From toilet accidents to ralphing up lunch as a result of car sickness or spilling a drink, you'll need to be prepared to help your toddler remain comfortable and clean on the road. There are the obvious cleaning supplies to consider, but a cleanup of the car seat and its surrounding area does little good if a child then has to sit in the car wearing dirty clothing. These might be smelly or saturated, leading to both an unacceptable level of discomfort for your little angel and an unpleasant environment for everyone else in the car.

No matter what you expect for your toddler's clothing needs, it's a good idea to increase the volume, perhaps even double it. Fortunately, small bodies demand small articles of clothing, so packing a bunch of extra outfits won't take up too much of your vehicle's cargo space. It's always better to be overprepared than to get caught sleeping, so pack plenty of additional clothes, even if that means opting for a pile of basics as a backstop. You and your little one will thank you for the extra planning step.

No matter the age of the explorers, snacks are a must for any road trip. Getting hungry on the road can derail the best laid plans, forcing the driver or a passenger to stop and find sustenance in order to carry on in good spirits. With a full arsenal of snacks onboard, your car won't have to make nearly as many stops, and this can be a solid money-saving strategy when budgeting for the trip, too. 

It's a good idea to pack a number of food items that your child likes — fruits, small chocolate bars, or raisins and nuts, for instance. But you'll also want to consider the potential for mess. Any food you bring can end up festering on the floor rather than providing energy to your little one. Chocolate is particularly problematic when it sits on your seat or floor in the heat. Packing treats in containers that will keep them safe is crucial, as is the practice of monitoring your child while they indulge their hunger.

Spending many hours in the car can result in serious sun exposure, especially if you're driving on a bright, cloudless day. The Skin Cancer Foundation warns that while glass effectively blocks UVB rays — the ultraviolet radiation that typically causes sunburns — it offers little to no protection against UVA rays. This means untreated windows can allow harmful rays to beat down on your young one's unprotected skin over the course of many hours.

Sun shades on the back windows can go a long way to solving this problem. Simple shades offer ample protection, but if you're really looking to build a long-term, consistent solution to this health concern, a UV-blocking film can be applied to each of your rear windows to add significant defense against the sun's rays. It's worth noting that taking care of a UV exposure problem can hit two birds with one stone. Not only are you adding in skin protection by blocking more of the sun's rays, but a shade also makes the car a more comfortable place to spend time. Without the sun constantly beating through the windows into the car, it's easier to keep this space cooler, and riders may not need to wear sunglasses while sitting in the back seat, further improving comfort. Even so, it may be a good idea in the most extreme of sunny circumstances to get a hat for your toddler in order to create just a little extra protection to go above and beyond.

Some parents may want to avoid encouraging major exposure to phone, TV, or tablet screens in their young ones, and this is perfectly understandable. However, plenty of parents won't be bothered by exposure to games or videos and might use these tools as learning opportunities rather than just a bit of entertainment to lighten the load now and then. If you are someone who has introduced screen time to your little one, then leveraging a tablet can be a major benefit on a road trip.

Investing in a simple car mount that holds your tablet against the back of the seat in front of your toddler's chair will keep the device in place as you meander around any part of the world. This is great for use as a video player and will often keep your young one entertained for many hours at a time. With an adjustable mount, you may even be able to pull the tablet out away from the seat to facilitate touch interactions that make for great gaming while on the road. There are plenty of ways in which a tablet can positively impact your child, so considering it as a fun means of entertainment and distraction during the duller points of your driving experience can be incredibly valuable. It may also be worth looking into a quality set of headphones that your toddler can use. Over-ear headphones with a Bluetooth connection come in many forms and price ranges.

Bathroom breaks are inevitable on any road trip. Stopping every few hours is fairly commonplace, especially if you have drinks and snacks in the car and utilize them freely. This need is all the more significant when traveling with a toddler. Children have smaller bodies and weaker impulse control, leading them to require bathroom breaks far more often than adults. Children also can't necessarily hold their needs or communicate their ability to wait as well as an adult rider. 

In some road trip circumstances, this might mean a fuller schedule of pit stops at rest areas and in towns. But there's no guarantee that your exact route will bring you into contact with enough locations that offer facilities for your child's needs. Therefore, it's always a good idea to pack a portable children's potty that will facilitate needed stops that might come between waypoints on your route that would make for a regular bathroom break. Unfortunately, little ones often need to go to the bathroom at the most inopportune moments, so parents engaged in a road trip with small children will need to be prepared for this inevitability.

Going to the bathroom is one instance in which emergency clean-up supplies will be required, but it is far from the only thing that might require a bit of quick thinking, not to mention relief at the decision to plan ahead and develop a comprehensive packing list. Bags of all sorts are a gigantic help while out on the road. In the comforts of your own home, it's difficult to fully appreciate how valuable a bag can be. There are all manner of alternative clean-up solutions and storage options at home, but when you're traveling with a toddler, quick storage and space constraints play an important role in how you tackle any situation.

Whether it be leftover food, dirty clothing that has taken a spill or been subjected to an accident, or the need to pick up game pieces or small components and keep them safe, plastic bags are a versatile solution. Ziplock bags allow for quick containment and a reusable package for a great many items. Plastic bags with tie handles like those you might get at the grocery store offer a different kind of versatility. These are excellent storage containers for soiled clothing, waste materials, and anything else that requires containment before cleaning or will ultimately be thrown away. These bags are often fairly large and can be closed off quickly and effectively to secure whatever is inside.

One of the first tasks you'll find when preparing for a road trip is the need to fill your suitcases. Many families will already have plenty of options in this department, especially if they are avid travelers. However, engaging in a road trip brings a different kind of adventure than a vacation involving air travel or other means of transportation, and it is particularly unique when you add a toddler into the mix. Young children require their own clothing, as well as a complete set of additional gear that might resemble a scaled-down version of your home. Cleaning supplies, clothing, toys, and a variety of typical household goods often combine in the packed bags of a young child.

When packing up the car, many people will find that their typical suitcases simply don't get the job done very well. Hard-shell rollaboard suitcases can be quite restrictive when it comes to packing the trunk of a car. There is only so much space you have available, and hard-shell suitcases simply won't conform to the contours of your vehicle's storage compartment as effectively as some other options. Instead, roller duffle bag suitcases should be your go-to packing solution when road-tripping with any configuration of friends or family, but especially when traveling with a toddler.

Every parent knows the value of a good car playlist. Toddlers often find hours of entertainment singing along with their favorite tunes, and a solid playlist highlighting their top hits is a must on any road trip packing list. In today's world of Bluetooth communication, building a playlist for your child can be done days in advance on your phone rather than through a concerted effort to pack physical CDs for the journey, but a single playlist isn't going to cut the mustard on a lengthy voyage. Your child's favorites will work for a cruise around town, but when journeying for days at a time, a few separate playlists that capture specific moods and energy levels are required. Just as many parents suggest starting a long car journey in the evening in order to align a significant portion of the driving with sleeping children, it's a good idea to develop a playlist of low-energy tunes that counteract the excitement of a favorites shuffle.

Piano music or anything similar that helps your child relax will be a huge help when exploring a new place on a road trip. Piecing together a few different selections of music to help set different moods is a major asset. While this might not constitute physical parking requirement any longer, the importance of setting aside time to think through your musical choices and to develop a couple of critical playlists will save you time and energy.

Keeping your toddler clean is crucially important while traveling. Unfortunately, it's not enough to just wipe them down when they make a mess of things. Specialized skin wipes are a solid starting point and can do much of the heavy lifting required to clean up your child after a spill or accident. You might want to consider wipes designed for sensitive skin, but any kind of cleaning wipes you use for your young ones on a regular basis will certainly do the job when (not if) the need arises.

To supplement your use of skin wipes, it's a good idea to pack a 2-in-1 cleansing gel that can be used on both skin and hair. This will save you a bit of space and won't require both a shampoo and body wash for your toddler, and it can be used in a pinch. Making a pit stop at a rest area along your route and running your toddler in for a quick wipe down and the makeshift shower (or regular wash if the facilities are offered at the rest stop) will set you on course for a return to the road as if nothing had happened. A child sitting in the remnants of a mess they've made is often an unhappy child, so taking steps to clean up your toddler's spills as quickly as possible will ensure a smooth trip with greater enjoyment for everyone.

On the flip side of cleaning up a toddler's sudden mess, you'll also want to tackle the car itself — rarely will you find a spill that only affects the child and miraculously skips over the car's interior. In addition to cleaning supplies for your young one, it's essential that you pack something to clean the seats, floor, and any other surface that may be affected inside the car (the ceiling, maybe!). Instant stain remover pens are a great starting point. These cleaning tools come in a small package that's easy to throw in the car. They fit in seatback pockets and the glove compartment; when putting together your travel bags, it's equally simple to slip a few extra into your backpack or duffel bag.

For an even more comprehensive cleaning solution, some people opt for a stain-removing liquid that includes an applicator brush head built into the container. These offer a broader reach when cleaning up large stains and spills. Whatever your preferred method, when away on a road trip, it's imperative that you take cleaning seriously and pack accordingly. It might not be feasible to stop and purchase cleaning supplies while you're on the road, especially if traveling in a remote part of the country. Therefore, it's crucial you pack enough to handle any stains you might experience without having to stop for backup.

Even in the modern world, cell service can often be quite lacking. GPS devices, even particularly potent ones, may have trouble locating you and your route at certain times of the trip. Small roads may not be highlighted on your GPS device or mapping app, leading to missed turns or an inability to find unique alternative routes that will bring you through spectacular areas of beauty and into contact with wonderful vistas. Another problem many digital map solutions run into is a lack of real-time knowledge about road closures and traffic problems.

A paper map provides all the information you require when these kinds of issues take root in your travels and acts as a fantastic backup to get you out of a jam if you've been led astray by your GPS. But there's another reason why bringing along paper maps can be a trip-altering decision; they can be marked up and annotated easily. A driver might consider circling cities and towns that the family intends to visit or highlighting service stations and rest areas to plan ahead when thinking about necessary stops for food, fresh air, and toilet breaks. Many families also jot down notes or highlight interesting experiences on their map, saving the item as a souvenir to look back on. This can be an immensely enriching decision that captures the trip as it happens, providing a wonderful reminder of the experience for many years to come.