Taking your kids to the amusement park is probably going to get you nominated for some sort of award, but with a little planning the trip with go smoothly, and you might be looking at parent of the year. Planning for your little adventure isn’t really difficult, you just have to think of any problems that might pop up, and make sure you have it covered. If you happen to be psychic, as most mothers and wives are, you should be able to handle this, and you’ll be a hero. Ok, maybe not a hero, you probably won’t get any credit at all, but they’ll have fun and that’s what it’s all about right? Here are a few tips that have helped me get through a day at the park without having a major mental breakdown.
If your destination is more than 5 minutes from your doorstep, have everything you would need to survive a zombie apocalypse in the car with you. This means snacks, kid friendly music, games, wet wipes, and duct tape, because at some point during your trip your kids will get hungry, bored, loud, or dirty. The duct tape is for when they get too loud, or it can double as a boundary line when one child is taking up too much room on the seat.
When choosing a park, make sure that there is something fun for everyone to do. Taking younger children to a park that has nothing but rides for the older kids is not fun for anyone. Likewise, your teenager probably won’t enjoy a full day of riding the carousel.
If you have a child with special needs, call ahead. Most parks won’t allow you to take food or drinks in with you, so as the parent of a diabetic I call ahead and let them know that we have to take certain items along with use. Every park we’ve ever been to has been very accommodating about this, and one park even offered to let us store things in their refrigerator if we wanted to.
These are just a few things, but they can make the difference between a good day, a great day, or a total disaster that will leave you with a few more grey hairs.
