Can we just take one minute to establish one thing?  When traveling with small children, it is no longer considered a VACATION.  A TRIP, yes.  Maybe an ADVENTURE.  But when you’re traveling with enough luggage to fill half the cargo hold of the airplane + can’t lower your own tray table, THIS IS NOT A VACATION.

Ok, now that we’ve established that traveling with small children will never be EASY, I want to share a trick I wish I’d known sooner that makes things significantly better (although still not a “vacation”).

meet: the CARES harness

We have traveled A LOT with children. A LOT. [I shared some travel tips & tricks awhile ago in this post.]  After Colin started requiring his own seat on an airplane, we began lugging his car seat on board.  We’d use this backpack to make it a little easier, but, really, there’s no way to make it convenient to carry a huge car seat onto an airplane.

And then, after SO MANY FLIGHTS, we found out about the CARES harness.  It’s FAA approved for travel, folds up into a tiny carrying bag (like fits in the palm of your hand tiny) and basically turns the airplane seatbelt into an over-the-shoulder harness.  The harness keeps toddlers contained PLUS without the added bulk/height of the carseat, they CANNOT KICK THE SEAT IN FRONT OF THEM!

[sorry for the terrible iphone photos, but you can click this link to find a video that’s more helpful!]

Seriously, it was a life changer.  As we were deplaning after our first flight with the harness (Colin was actually carrying it in his backpack), I turned to John and said ‘how have we gone this long without knowing about this thing?!‘

So, there you go… something I wish I’d known about sooner & hope it’s helpful for you too!