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Between visiting friends and family or enduring a permanent change of station, the military lifestyle can require a lot of extra travel.

It’s not so bad when you only have to plan a trip for yourself. But the challenge can rise dramatically when you have a child or children to bring along. There are ways to avoid the potential tantrums, sheer boredom and irksome insomnia.

Here are a few tips to effectively manage and enjoy your travels with kids:

Prepare Your Kids

Preparing your kids for traveling goes well beyond packing a few snacks for the road. Depending on the location and your time frame, you can start planning for it all weeks in advance.

Bedtime Routine

Parents tend to create a routine that eases their child into sleep mode, but before you establish a routine, consider how often you’ll need to travel. While a musical mobile may be an effective aid, it probably isn’t the easiest carry-on item, nor can you hang it from an overhead compartment. Consider a routine like putting a teddy bear to sleep, reading a story or singing a bedtime song.

Speaking of Routine

Avoid making a schedule if there are chances you’ll be traveling across time zones. Rather, establish a routine a young mind can follow—wake up, eat breakfast, shower, get dressed, etc. Kids can acclimate to a pattern and more easily adjust the time zone hop from California to Florida.

Prep the Picky Eater

If your child only eats peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches cut into fours for lunch, you may be in trouble when it comes to having to eat on the run or in a foreign country. Establish a sense of cuisine curiosity at a young age by introducing your child to a variety of foods including fish, beans and multiple vegetables. For tips to turn a picky eater, you can search sites like AskDrSears.com.

Wean the Tech-Savvy

You may go to some places that are without Internet, computer games or phone service. Before your child starts foaming at the mouth from Facebook withdrawals, you can gradually wean them off by allocating a day without electricity. Sounds tough, but you can make it fun with candles, flashlights and board games.

During the Actual Travel

Pack some Munch:

Hungry kids get finicky, poorly nourished kids get sluggish and sick. Avoid both by packing travel-friendly, mess-free snacks

• Fresh Fruit and Veggies: Avoid squishy fruits like plums and go for apples or grapes. For vegetables, carrot sticks and celery are always a convenient choice.
• Nuts and Dried Fruit: You can bring separate bags or, since kids tend to appreciate candies, you can pick a premade trail mix. Since there is a protein and fruit source, parents won’t have to worry too much about the sweets.
• Using reusable metal water bottles are a good way to keep beverages cold with the possibility of adding a flavor packet as kids want variety of flavors.

Bring Mess-Free Distractions

• Coloring: Found this Color a Backpack from Kidzsack that offers a kit that lets kids color their own backpack. It can keep them busy on the car/plane/train ride with the added incentive of having a backpack to carry around while sightseeing or shopping.
• Origami: There are multiple step-by-step origami books to teach and entertain kids without too much mess.
• Destination Story/Audio Books: A child can take the travel time to learn about the place they are going and plan out the things they’d like to see or do. It may help to ease any anxieties their feeling or just provide a way to pass time.
• Write a Book: BareBooks is just one site that sells blank bound books. Buy one for your child to write and illustrate a story during the trip. You may even want to participate too if your transportation allows.
• DVD Player: If all else fails, stock your child with some entertaining movies and a portable DVD player. Many sites and stores offer them and they tend to range on average $50 to $150.

Photo thanks to Heather Poole via Flickr Creative Commons