Have Triplets, Will Travel: Tips for Traveling with Triplets

Challenges are abundant when you have four young children, three of which are triplets. Traveling is no exception and it doesn’t matter if you are going to a new state or just the grocery store. There will be bumps along the way. However that shouldn’t stop you from traveling with your triplets. If I can do it – so can you! Bring these tips along for an even smoother trip.

The Challenges of Traveling with Triplets

Traveling with triplets plus one older brother is an exhausting thought considering that I hate taking my four kids to the store – and you can’t even imagine the stress when it comes to a vacation and packing for them!. Taking my triplets and their older brother to the store every single time we need milk, bread, fruit and ice cream is a form of torture designed to slowly drive me insane. You can’t even imagine the stress when it comes to a vacation and packing for them!

If the 12,539 times I have to hear, “My, you have your hands full” is not enough to make my eye twitch, then it’s the fact that my children, Hayden, 6. and Jake, Quinn and Claire, 3, have to touch everything they see, including the super fragile glass vases and they need to taste test the bulk dog food.

Yup, going to the store with my children is not a pleasant experience and I try not to do it. But no matter how much I detest this chore, unlike taking a family vacation with my multiples, regular shopping trips have to be done.

Dos and Don’ts for Traveling with Triplets

Thankfully, there are things that can make traveling anywhere with triplets a little more manageable. Everyone knows that being prepared with extra diapers, extra clothes, snacks and juice can help, but these five do’s and don’t’s can help make a trip the store seem a little less like a torture session.

1. Don’t rush.

The surest way to have your children tear open a package of flour or throw a glass vase from the shelf is to be a in a hurry. When you try to rush though a store with young children, it’s almost a guarantee something disastrous will happen. Give yourself enough time so those little mischievous incidents won’t be so devastating and you will be able to handle them with a smile instead of crawling to the corner to go into a fetal position.

2.  Do treat (a.k.a. bribe) your children.

Have you ever noticed that when you want a dog to do something that you ask, you give it a treat? Well, it works on children, too. Tell your children up front what you expect from them (no touching, walk with Mommy, quiet voices). Then tell them if they do what you ask, they will get a treat. My kids will do anything for a sucker or fruit snack.

3. Don’t ignore the oldest/older child.

Sometimes having an older child can be more trouble because my triplets will feed off of the naughtiness of my oldest son. But I usually can enlist his help without too much protest. Since he is the eldest child, he is a natural born leader and if I can harness that ability, I have another set of hands to help me keep track of my triplets.

4. Do be creative.

One of the things that I learned rather quickly is that the world is not built for multiples. Shopping carts only have one seat, aisles are not wide enough and Mommy only has two hands. So that is why as a mom of multiples, I have to be creative and use the things that are in the world and make them fit my multiples. For example, it’s tight, but all three triplets can fit in the one seat of a shopping cart. When we walk through doorways or small aisles, we form a choo choo train. And, although I don’t have enough hands for all my kids to hold, I do have enough fingers.

5. Don’t forget the bathroom.

Children have small bladders. If you can remember, have all the kids go potty before you leave. If you are like me and totally forget this step, then it is a good idea to know where all the bathrooms are in the stores because when your children tell you they have to pee, you need to stop, drop and run to the nearest bathroom. Once you’re in the bathroom, make all the children go. Otherwise, you could be taking many trips back to the bathroom. Or worse yet, cleaning up puddles on the floor.

Read More: Potty Training Tips for Public Bathrooms (Bring the Post-it Notes!)

About the Author: This post was written by Jen Mitchell.