Traveling as a family is always memorable, but those memories aren’t always rosy. To get your next family vacation closer to postcard-perfect, I’ve learned a few tricks after traveling with multiple kids regularly, domestically and internationally, for work and pleasure from the baby years up through the tween and teen stages. Set your sights on limited sightseeing It is tempting to try to see and do aaaaaall the things because you’ve come aaaaaall this way and paid aaaaaall that money. You should not, however, because you will run yourself and your kids into the ground. Then all that money … [Read more...]
Mile-High Parenting: This Tip is a Lock for Flying with Young Children
Naturally, after a moment of concern for our daughter's well-being, we did what any responsible parents would do in a crisis: we blamed each other. _________________ Think you know everything about those tiny airplane bathrooms? Think again.When flying with our two young children years ago, my wife and I discovered a little-known but highly valuable feature of those bathrooms, at least on our particular plane. But first, a story.Our two daughters were ages 6 and 3 at the time. Like most parents, we dreaded that anything-can-happen stage of flying with children when wild imaginings of … [Read more...]
Car Accident Trauma for Those Involved, Those Not
I’m standing over my son’s bed, and I start crying. I think: he’s alive.It’s a weird emotion for me. My wife and son were in a car accident today coming home from school. Everyone was OK. The car wasn’t. People lived, items didn’t. It worked out how it was supposed to. But my seven-year-old is scared. He’s waking up as soon as he falls asleep. He’s crying because he’s scared.“I want momma,” his voice cracks.“Momma’s got to sleep too,” I answer. “She was also in the car accident and she’s hurt too. You both need to rest.”My wife is as hurt as my son: shaken, scared, but alive. … [Read more...]
Car Seat Safety Starts at the Source for Britax
Editor's Note: With National Child Passenger Safety Week concluded, Charlotte Dads Group organizer Darrell Humphrey writes about his chapter's visit to the North Carolina facility of car seat and stroller manufacturer Britax, one of our longtime partners. You can watch a broadcast of the visit and learn more about child car seat safety on our Facebook page.Keeping our kids safe, especially when traveling, is one of a parent's greatest responsibilities. One of the best ways is to put them in the right car seat, at the right time, and use it the right way. To learn more about this, … [Read more...]
Child Car Seat Demo, Giveaway Sept. 19 on Facebook
To mark Monday's start of national Child Passenger Safety Week, City Dads Group will team with baby goods manufacturer Britax for a live Facebook discussion and demonstration about proper use of a child car seat.The live online video chat starts at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time (9:30 a.m. Pacific) on the City Dads Group Facebook page.The event will be broadcast live from Britax's U.S. headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., where several members of our Charlotte Dads Group will be on site for the discussion. In addition to showing parents how to properly install a child car seat, the broadcast will … [Read more...]