Recently, we left our two boys back home with their grandparents for eight days while we traveled to France. Before the trip, the had never been without us both at the same time and I had only left them for a short weekend previously. Needless to say I was a nervous wreck and wanted to do everything I could to make the week run as smoothly as possible for everyone involved.

So, today I’m sharing my five tips for leaving your kids at home while you travel. These are some of the things I did before we left to ensure the boys’ lives were disrupted as little as possible – which in turn helped my in-laws and our peace of mind tremendously. Whether you’re leaving for a weekend or a week or more, I think these tips apply and I hope they’re helpful!

How to prepare to leave your kids at home while you’re away.

Write it all down

Whether it’s a google doc or a bunch of notes taped the fridge (like I did), write it all down for whoever is watching your kids. What do I mean by ‘it all’? Here’s what notes I had written out:

• Daily Schedule – school days
  • This included what should be in his school bag before they left the house, the fact that he needs to go potty before leaving and ideas for lunch and snack packing.
• Daily schedule – non school days
• Rules and notes
  • Things like screen time rules/limits, safety tips for getting out of the car, what to ask Alexa for when playing music and what exactly they’re allowed to/like to watch on TV.
• Snack and meal ideas
  • I made sure to include what their Chick-fil-A order was on here too!

I figured the less my in-laws had to think about what to do, the smoother everything would go for both them and the boys.

Medical and medicine

This means leaving things like insurance cards and pediatrician contact info out where they’re easily accessible. We also left a signed note giving my mother-in-law permission to seek medical care and make medical-related decisions on our behalf while we were gone. You can find official forms like this online and have them notarized to be sure that there will be no issues getting your kids the care they need while you’re away. Having this all squared away did a lot for our peace of mind while we were out of the country.

Another thing to consider if you and your spouse are both going to be gone is to make sure you have a will filed should the worst happen. I know, morbid, but just one of those things that is better safe than sorry!

Stock the fridge

Before we left, I made sure to stock the fridge, freezer and pantry with aaaaall the kid-approved things. I even wrote down the boys’ groceries and which stores carried them just in case! There are a few things in their meal repertoire that can only be gotten from Trader Joe’s or Target. And since food is a big deal when it comes to toddlers, I made sure to cover my bases!

Clean and organize

Leading up to our trip, I started thinking about what spaces in our home my in-laws would be needing to get to and use. Things like the boys’ dressers, closets, toiletries, laundry stuff, etc. Then, I slowly but surely started making my way around the house organizing and cleaning. I went through the boys’s drawers and made sure everything in them would fit and was easily accessible. I stocked their toiletries, replenished laundry detergent and just gave the house a good scrub before we left.

Resist the urge to call too much

Now, this sort of depends on how long you’re going to be gone for. Our trip lasted eight days and, at first, we called regularly (once or twice a day). However, we started to notice that the boys seemed sad when they saw us and then had to hang up. So, we quickly went from calling as much as we could to limiting it to about every other day. For the most part, especially if your kids are little like ours, the expression out of sight out of mind applied.. in a positive way. It was definitely hard not to see them multiple times a day. But it was better for the kids and the caregivers in the long run. Of course, every family and situation is different, but just something to be cognizant about while you’re away!