We decided to create a list of 11 best places to visit in the USA with toddlers because it’s not until you have toddlers do you realize that traveling with toddlers is TOUGH. If you read the fancy blogs that are run by spoiled moms who are trying to find something to do at home and save face when other mommies say ‘so what do you do?’, then you’ll think that it’s possible to be super mommy. It’s not. It’s tough.
Let’s think about traveling and why people do it. One, vacation. Yah – Vacay! The point of vacation is to let loose and get away from your problems. For me, being a mommy is – no, I’m not going to say ‘the problem’ – one of the reasons I’m always stressed out. Is she hungry? Is she safe? Is she stimulated? Does she feel loved? Is she alive and breathing? So those problems follow me where ever I go.
So basically when I think about places to go with toddlers, I try to spot places that cater to the needs of the parent!
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Now that we’ve gotten the needs of the parent out of the way, let’s go younger. Children are the purest and most honest beings. They do not get excited about material things. What do toddlers want? Not architecture, fine wines or nature. The aspects of life that make toddlers happy are very primitive. According to the latest research from Queensland Family & Child Commission, children get excited and happy when they get a new hobby and quality time with their families and friends. Include in that food, weather, convenience, relaxing, playing. So the part about relaxing omits anything related to extensive movement (hiking the Appalachian Trail anyone?).
If you’re kids are little older, don’t miss our 10 Best Places to Visit in the USA with Kids.
It was not easy to create the list of the 11 best places to visit in the USA with toddlers because we needed to consider a lot of things and determine their significance. For example, to find the best national parks we needed to consider visitor statistics from National Geographic. We checked the Q&A section and calculated the average for each national park.
