Are you planning to take a family vacation soon? Are you worried about traveling with your child? Travel can be exciting for children, but it can also be very stressful. Even if they are in elementary school, they may be unable to properly explain the anxious feelings that they might have. As a parent, your job is to try to anticipate and alleviate stressful situations so that both you and your child can have a wonderful vacation together. Some things to do are:

Pack some comfort food: Children can be extremely picky about food, even if you try to discourage it. Vacation is not really a time to try to force your kid to eat something strange and exotic. While you can encourage trying something new, forcing it will only create stress for the both of you. Perhaps he or she really likes a certain cereal for breakfast. Even if the lodging that you have chosen includes breakfast, there's no guarantee that they will have something that your kid enjoys. Buy a small box of this cereal before you leave home and repackage it into individual-sized zipper bags. In the morning, your child can have a cereal that he or she enjoys without you having to worry about dealing with whole boxes of cereal. You can then enjoy whatever breakfast the hotel has to offer you.

Bring a disposable mattress cover: It's not uncommon for children to wet the bed when sleeping in a strange location, even if they'd previously stopped. Cheap disposable mattress covers can often be found at many dollar stores and will help protect the mattress from any accidents. In order to avoid embarrassing your child, you may want to put mattress covers on all of the beds in the room. Before doing so, discretely explain to the staff at your lodging about your concerns and explain about the mattress covers. They may even offer to have housekeeping put the covers on the beds for you, grateful that they won't have to deal with cleaning a soiled mattress.

Find a lodging with a pool: After you're done sightseeing for the day, you may be exhausted while your child is still a bundle of energy. If you take him or her back up to your room for quiet time, it will only frustrate both of you. A pool can be a great way for your child to burn off excess energy. You can sit on the side, reading a book or planning for tomorrow, while watching your child swimming. If you're vacationing during the chilly part of the year, look for accommodations that have an indoor pool that remains open year-round.