Our family of four recently went to the beach for the first time in a couple years. Two years ago, I was eight months pregnant and the thought of riding many hours in the car and then laying on a hot beach sounded like the LAST thing I was interested in. Then, last summer, we had a 10-month-old who screamed any time a car ride went past 15 minutes…road trip anyone??
Finally, this summer, no one was pregnant and no one screamed on car rides. My in-laws suggested they take the whole family to the beach and we gladly accepted! We went to a beach that was new to us: Oak Island, North Carolina. The beach house was wonderful, the beach was lovely, and the seafood was delicious. We’ve been to the beach several times as a married couple, with a six-month-old, a three-year-old, and I grew up on the West Coast where we went to the beach weekly for a good part of the year.
So, you wouldn’t think anything would surprise me, but I still had a few revelations this time around when it comes to going to the beach with children. Here are some of my tips and takeaways:
Join the local Facebook group for recommendations.
If you can find a community Facebook page, this is where you can often find the best up-to-date resources on what restaurants are worth checking out and other things like kid-friendly activities and local beach equipment rentals.
All bodies truly are beach bodies.
I know we see this phrase on social media often, but I was amazed to see it in action on the beach. I saw moms in bikinis and moms in swimsuit dresses, and everyone looked like they were having a great time. I didn’t notice if anyone didn’t have a perfectly fitted or stylish suit, but I did notice how much fun they were having.
Sport-style swimsuits.
On that note, however, I’ve recently discovered sport-style swimsuits which are pretty full coverage, but they allowed me to bend, sit, and play any which way I wanted to with my kids. They also allowed me to not worry about being uncomfortable or think about how I looked. It was very comfortable for being active. The suit also felt comfortable for walking to and from the beach without needing a lot of additional cover-up. I happened to get this Nike style from a department store, but there are several similar options on Amazon.
Don’t order a meal for your toddler.
If your kid is like mine, they won’t eat their meal. Instead, they will think what is on everyone else’s plate looks way better and eat half of yours. Don’t spend the extra $10 for a kids’ meal.
Bring a wagon.
If you have to do any amount of walking from your rental house or hotel to the beach, you may want to bring a wagon with beach-capable wheels. There is just so much to carry when you bring kids — especially babies or toddlers — to the beach, and if they’re falling asleep on the way back, it’s hard to carry everything. I did see a couple that would bring their little girl for maybe 45-minute stretches; they didn’t bother to bring anything to the beach except a chair and a shovel. That also seemed like a hack.
Just take the picture.
A lot of times, I get frustrated when I’m trying to capture a memory and my kids are either making silly faces on purpose or too distracted to look at the camera. I don’t take that many pictures to begin with, so I’d like the ones I capture to be half-way decent, but I have found that it’s not worth getting upset over. Just snap the picture and be done with it.
Stay within walking distance from the beach.
If you can stay within walking distance from the beach and avoid having to pack and unpack your car every time to go down to the beach, it’s a game changer.
Sneak away to the beach if you can.
The best part of my week at the beach was when my toddler was napping and my older kid was playing in the pool with our family. I grabbed a book and headed to the beach for two hours, totally alone. If you have taken kids to the beach before, you know that it is not a vacation for the parents. Those two hours rejuvenated my soul!
Get a pool if possible.
On that note, I had no idea how great it would be to have a pool at our rental house even though it was right on the beach. Somehow, when the beach seemed to wear everyone out, the saltwater pool in the backyard felt restorative to both kids and adults.
