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Toddler's Travels was established in 2007 after my husband and I were scrambling to find a pack'n play and car seat for our visiting grandson. We rent all the comforts of home for your baby, toddler or child and deliver them to your accommodation, the airport car rentals or grandma's house. By providing full size wooden cribs, top of the line strollers and car seats, fun boxes of toys, baby swings, high chairs and 44 other baby or beach items Toddler's Travels allows you to travel with just your little ones and your luggage. Items can also be picked up from our San Diego or North county locations. All the baby equipment is thoroughly sanitized, linens washed in free and clear laundry solution and equipment regularly checked for safety. Full delivery service is available so you can truly travel with minimal stress; the baby's crib will be set and ready for you upon your arrival.

How to Help Your Kids Thrive: Resources for Effective Parenting

Photo via Rawpixel

Great parents raise children who are smart, confident, kind, independent, and equipped to thrive as young adults. But knowing how to be a great parent is hard! There’s no single resource or guide that will answer all of your questions, and for the most part, parents have to figure everything out through trial and error. To make things easier, the Toddler’s Travels blog offers up the following advice you can use in your own parenting strategy.

Balance Boundaries and Freedom

  • Knowing when to provide support can be challenging, especially as your kids get older.
  • Parental Roles: How to Set Healthy Boundaries with Your Child
  • How to Give Your Older Kid More Freedom
  • 12 Tips for Raising Confident Kids

Develop Daily Routines

Routines are important for establishing healthy habits and providing a sense of structure that can give children greater confidence.

Teach Essential Life Skills

Give your children the life skills they need to cope with the world and thrive as adults.

Be a Role Model

Children learn what to think and how to behave by observing their parents. Be a good role model for your children and practice what you preach!

As a parent, you want your kids to live happy and successful lives. There are several great ways to support your children as they progress through every stage of development. Set healthy boundaries, give your kids freedom, establish routines, model desirable behavior — everything you do today will set your kids up for a successful future.

Travels With Baby

GuidebookWhether it’s your first road trip with your baby or you’re looking for ideas on how to entertain your very active toddler for a long flight, you’ll find a wealth of valuable information on Shelly Rivoli’s website, Travels with Baby.

With two award-winning family travel guidebooks, as well as an award-winning family travel blog, you can find a myriad of tips and advice about products and gear, kid-friendly destinations, travel planning, a worldwide directory of vacation babysitting services and a wonderfully comprehensive worldwide directory of baby gear rentals.

NAPPASilver_with_yrShelly and I have been in contact since she visited San Diego with her family and wrote a blog featuring Toddler’s Travels in 2008.   I am filled with admiration for Shelly who has managed to create a life where traveling and adventures with her family is intermeshed with her work.  Shelly has traveled to Thailand, Tunisia, Manhattan, Yosemite, Paris, Chichen Itza, Hawaii, Pompeii, Barcelona, Jamaica, London, Costa Rica and elsewhere with her own children under five- so she is quite the expert on how to travel with babies, toddlers and young children.

Now that Shelly and her husband’s children aren’t toddlers anymore she has started a new website, Family Travel 411, for all kinds of useful information about travel with school-age children.  My new go-to resource!

Awards and Honors
2014 Lowell Thomas Award Bronze Award in Guidebooks from the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation Gold and Silver Award recipient in the
National Parenting Publications Awards
2013 Silver and 2012 Bronze Award in Travel Blogs North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA) Finalist for THREE ForeWord Magazine
Book of the Year Awards
2013 & 2012 Red Tricycle
Totally Awesome Awards Finalist
Best Family Travel Sites
Rising Star Award from
National Parenting Publications Awards
“99 of the Best Travel Blogs”
picks by Travelblogs.com
Top 10 Winner in Tripbase 2009 & 2011
Best Family Travel Blogs
2011 and 2012 Winner in Babble.com’s
25 Best Travel Blogs for Families
#2 in Insider Tips & Tricks

Shelly lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children. Visit her website and blogs at www.TravelswithBaby.com and the new www.FamilyTravel411.com.

Sunny San Diego Living up to its Reputation

san diego boardwalkI love winter in San Diego anyway, but we’ve never experienced winter weather like this one since we moved here in 1996. For the past 3 weeks we’ve had warm, balmy and just glorious weather like today; 72 degrees with 16% humidity, and it’s projected to continue for the next 10 days at least. Driving home yesterday I saw a guy walking along without his shirt on and several women running in tank tops, people out golfing and playing tennis, many people at the beach,  out for a walk with their baby or like my elderly neighbor just sitting in the sun on their porch. So Mid-westerners and East Coasters, get out here and take a break from that extreme cold spell you’re going through- it sounds brutal!

Hotel Del CoronadoSan Diego is lovely in the Fall, Winter and Spring- much less crowded. You can get up close to all the animals at our World Famous San Diego Zoo enjoy having no lines at LEGOLAND in Carlsbad, or have a blast with your kids at the water park there. Or do all three parks and visit SeaWorld- walking under the shark exhibition is my favorite part.

You should be able to find a reasonably priced vacation rental at this time of year- we have a list of recommended property managers on our Partners page. Be sure to pack your shorts, sandals and swim suits- you can go back home and brag that you were swimming in the ocean in January, lounging by the pool getting a tan and building sandcastles with your toddler or baby.

san diego sunset

I can’t imagine it will last forever- we’ll need some rain at some point. So hurry, hurry- be spontaneous!  Book the flight, accommodation and car- we’ve got you covered for the beach and baby equipment rentals.

TRAVEL TIP: Winter Special at Toddler’s Travels.  Free item of your choice with your order of $75 or more; see our Packages page for details.