A Mom’s Survival Guide For The Beach

The Beach: A Mom’s Survival Guide

Before kids, everything was easy — especially the beach. You could wrap a sarong over your two-piece, throw a beach towel and tanning oil into your purse, and be ready for a few full days of sun, sand, and surf.

After kids, everything is complicated — especially the beach. By forgetting even a single necessity, you could be setting your entire vacation up for extreme failure. If this is your first time attempting to bring your little ones to the seashore, you need this guide for packing, traveling, and enjoying the beach as a family.

Packing Tips

By now, you should have your everyday baby bag expertly organized, but your average diaper kit, clothes, and toys won’t cut it at the beach. Here, your tots will be exceedingly dirty, wet, and (worst of all) mobile, so you need your supplies to work harder and last longer than usual. Here are all the beach basics your kiddos need:

Swim diapers. These insulate your little one’s tush against the grating sand and saltwater, preventing burns and rashes.
Life preservers. Even if your kid is a natural in the water, you need a brightly colored life jacket that isn’t easy for a child to remove.
Sunblock. It doesn’t matter whether your kids tan or burn; prolonged sun exposure increases everyone’s chance of developing life-threatening skin cancer.
First-aid kit. The beach is covered in opportunities for burns, stings, scrapes, and bruises. In your kit, you should have antibacterial cream, aloe vera, and plenty of bandages.
Sand toys. Your typical race cars and stuffed animals won’t do at the beach. You need shovels, buckets, and molds for authentic beach fun.
Snacks. You should bring at least a liter of water for every person and every two hours on the beach. Plus, your kids need plenty of food to keep their energy up.

If your kids are old enough, you might skip the diapers in favor of more advanced supplies. For example, you can add items used for venturing into the waves, like swim goggles, snorkels, or boogie boards. Alternatively, if lounging is your kids’ primary activity, you might add a floppy sun hat, a comfy folding chair, and a kid-friendly book or magazine.

Undoubtedly, most of your focus will be on packing the essentials for your little ones, but you can’t forget the beach necessities that help you relax and have fun. First and foremost, you need to invest in Leilani bathing suits, which are comfortable, supportive, and cute — the three most important swimwear-related adjectives for moms. However, just as important as the suit underneath is your cover-up, your beach hat, sunglasses, and sandals, all of which can create an outstandingly stylish outfit perfect for wandering the boardwalk, grabbing lunch, or rounding up kiddos before you leave for home.

Sun, Sand, Surf, and Travel Tips

The good news is that traveling to the beach isn’t usually any more difficult than traveling anywhere else. The bad news is that traveling with kids is always a headache. Whether you are going for a week-long beach vacation or heading to the seashore for a family afternoon, you need to consider the following for safety and security of everyone involved:

Buy travel insurance. When you were young, it might have felt like a waste of money. With kids, travel insurance will help you protect your investment — and keep you, your kids, and your belongings safe while you are away.
Rent equipment. Instead of trying to pack in your stroller, your high chairs, your playpens, and a truckload of toys, you can probably rent them from vendors around the beach.
Make reservations. When you have a firm commitment to a hotel, a restaurant, a tour, or some other vacation fun, it is much easier to get the kids in line and go.

Still, the beach isn’t like other destinations. Often, parents let their kids loose on the seashore despite obvious dangers, like the crashing waves and the hordes of strangers. This causes tensions to run high, as parents try to balance relaxing, encouraging family fun, and staying safe. If you want to stay sane throughout your trip, you should remember the following tips:

Come early. There should be fewer people on the beach earlier in the day, giving you the opportunity to snag better spots — like near the lifeguard — and have fun before strangers arrive.
Plan the departure. Kids are better at wrapping up fun activities when they have plenty of notice about the end. Beginning hours before you leave, you should warn kids about your departure time.
Forget relaxation. If you wanted to relax on the beach, you shouldn’t have brought your kids. A family beach day is frantic and fun, and you should give into that craziness rather than seeking quiet and solitude.