Embrace the Screens! Survive Travel Days with Toddler Tech & Baby Headphones
I hate lamenting how parents these days have it so much easier. I know, it makes me sound old. But guys, I traveled with tiny glass jars of baby food, and you guys get these handy dandy foil pouches. AND they’re organic. Ok, I digress…
I Screen, You Screen
Seriously though, the one gadget that has made the biggest impact in our traveling life and lightened our carry-on bag immensely is the tablet. I kid you not, we used to travel with a portable DVD player, DVDs (natch), at least three books, plus assorted games. Our bag was HEAVY.
So while my inner luddite wishes I could somehow keep my kids away from screens forever, realistic me uses tech judiciously. And yes, against the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation, my kids had access to screens well before the age of two.
A tip for traveling with tablets and babies and toddlers: use your non-tech toys and distractions first. Once you bring out the tech, it’s hard to go back to stickers and crayons.
Best Tablets for Toddlers
V-Tech InnoTab
My biggest pet peeve with “kiddy” tablets is batteries. Of course they drain quickly and of course it’s a pain to change them out and of course if you use rechargeable they take forever to charge. We went straight to a “real” tablet, but I sorta really wanted to get my youngest this one.
It’s age appropriate (read: not as frustrating) with a camera and over 4 gigs of storage, plus over 350 fun and educational “apps.” And the Kid Connect communication app allows for secure communication between the InnoTab and a parent’s smartphone. For less than $100 I think this is a great option for big toddlers who aren’t quite ready to get their mitts all over mama’s iPad.
LeapFrog LeapPad
One way of protecting your precious tech from grubby hands is to get them their own. And this “kiddy” tablet claims to engage kids up until the age of 9. Now when my daughter was 8 she had already been completely captivated by Minecraft, so this particular tablet would not have been a great investment for us.
But, if I were to do it over again, I certainly would go for this or the InnoTab for when they were smaller, and to be honest I would have been a bit relieved to keep them out of the “real world” apps for as long as possible. The LeapPad gets great reviews for being durable, with fun games that are age appropriate. This particular model comes with 11 apps and a library of over 800 to choose from.
Apple iPad mini
Should you do it? Should you bite the bullet and just invest in the Grand Poobah of all tablets since you’ll end up buying one eventually anyway?
Full disclosure: my kids both had their own iPads by ages 8 and 5. But, they did save for them. All birthday money and allowance went towards their electronic babysitters devices and we covered the tax. BUT, we’ve learned the hard way that we need to be extra vigilant about enforcing limits. We do waver from time to time, but for the most part that’s another reason why my kids love travel so much–they know on travel days they have unfettered access to their devices, so they can Minecraft and movie to their heart’s content.
Does your kid need their own tablet? Four and under? You can probably get away with “sharing” yours. However, when they’re a bit bigger, their own device means you actually get to use yours UNINTERRUPTED for more than a minute at a time. That might be worth the investment right there
