Okay, so the title of this post may be a little misleading, but where my toddler is concerned…he got a “puppy!” His puppy is actually a Skip Hop Zoo rolling luggage… We recently set off on a family adventure to Chicago to visit family and when planning the trip and thinking on how best to orchestrate packing everything we needed for the trip, I decided my 2 year old could “hold his own.” I have an very independent little guy who want to be so helpful, it’s to the point he will have a meltdown if he can’t assist or help with almost every task. So, why not give him a bit of ownership?!? I love the Skip Hop’s adorable “Zoo” characters and we already had a pair of backpacks for each of our little guys, and since they are priced pretty reasonably and well-made, I added the puppy to our collection!
It worked like a charm! I put small necessities in each of the boys backpacks – like toys, snacks, water bottles (Skip Hop makes those too – if you care to coordinate) and their respective security blankets. Raef was able to pull along his rolling luggage, just like all the grown ups, as we navigated through the airport. I put all his clothes in there, so it wasn’t too heavy. He walked with purpose and was really good about looking after “puppy.” He was complimented at every turn with passersby admiring this little dude taking charge and carrying his own stuff. One of the cutest things, that he observed and picked up on, was other travelers would stack their briefcase or smaller laptop bag above the rolling luggage…so naturally he took off his dinosaur backpack and stacked it on the puppy too! LOL!
It’s never too young to teach a child some responsibility and give them some “control” over their possessions and belongings. Sure, there were moments when they tired of the luggage, but it wasn’t a big deal when we had to pick up the slack and overall, it worked like a charm…otherwise he would’ve been insisting to “help” with Mommy’s luggage!
Traveling with tots can certainly be a challenge, but it’s something I’ve had to tackle and will continue to do, because how else are we gonna get anywhere! I’ve written some other posts on traveling with the babes, and you can check those out through the links below. Happy travels!
Air Travel with Baby…By Yourself