Italy with three children: what I learned

We just returned from a sixteen day trip to Italy: Jeff, myself, our good (and brave) friend Ruth, and the three kids.  

People thought we were crazy to go to Italy with the kids.  It was a bit crazy, a bit ambitious, but entirely doable, and I would go again.

These are some the things I learned about travelling with a 7 year old, 4 year old, and 6 month old.

1.  Gravol is your friend.  I gave the boys each a chewable kids gravol just before each flight, which calmed them down and helped them sleep.  They woke up with some rest and ability to function once in Italy, and back at home.  I, on the other hand, was a mess, but so accustomed to sleep deprivation was able to function.

2.  Young kids require stuff.  As kids get older, the amount of stuff connected with travelling is reduced.  Baby Owen required a car seat, a portable sleeping tent, diapers, a stroller, and a sling.  Four year old Cameron needed a booster seat.  Seven year old John needed some clothes.  That's just the way it is.

3.  The Baby Star Peapod travel bed is excellent.  This is, essentially, a tent that folds into a smallish bag that I put in my suitcase.  Owen slept in it, and we also took it to the beach.  Very cool.

4.  The Nintendo DS is helpful.  John brought his DS, which is extraordinarily helpful for long car trips and the airport.  Unfortunately, charging it was challenging with the stronger European voltage, so we could not rely on it; regardless, it was useful.

5.  On the fly games are useful.  Twenty questions is excellent for the car, as is a new restaurant oriented game that I just developed: the silent game!  Who can be the quietest longest?  Surprisingly fun!

6.  Reduce your expectations.  Do not think you can do nearly the same amount as a adult.  I felt if I could see 10% of what I would normally without children I would be happy.  In Florence, Ruth went to the Uffitzi, the Duomo, a Galileo museum, and did some shopping.  We went to a kid oriented Leondardo DaVinci museum and I dashed off early one morning to check out Michelangelo's David.

7.  Bribery works.  We bought the kids lots of gelato and small little toys and souvenirs.  This made them happy.

8.  Don't worry too much about nutrition.  Sometimes just getting enough food into the kids is a positive thing.  We didn't worry too much about vegetables and tried to have them eat fruit regularly.

9.  Don't get upset.  Whatever happens, do not get upset.  We had some pretty intense travel experiences: things going wrong, getting lost, vomit.  We generally stayed calm, and worked through the problem.  After a particularly stressful day driving from Rome to Florence in a far too large van, John remarked he was bored.  I felt extremely pleased we had been successful at not expressing our worry to the children.

10.  Savour the small moments.  Since we are going to be missing some of the things one would see without children, we had to enjoy some of the smaller, but perhaps more profound moments.... we are eating gelato in a piazza.  We are on the beach in Italy.  The children are running through the ruins of Pompeii.  Fun stuff.