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Best Travel Crib for Twins? Hands Down It’s The Joovy Room²

July 30, 2023 | Leave a Comment

Best Travel Crib for Twins

Traveling with babies and toddlers is always interesting.  First, you have to plan the actual trip.  How will the baby do?  What can you do as a parent to make your baby more comfortable and able to pass the time while you’re traveling?  But then there are other considerations, namely, all the gear that you have to pack so you can travel with the baby.  Think playpens, strollers, portable changing tables, etc.  If you have twins, the planning is likely to double.  However, if you choose the best travel crib for twins, you get a lot of your travel gear in one purchase.

Best Travel Crib for Twins

Now that more people are having twins, the market has exploded.  Lucky for us as buyers, that means there are many choices available, but you really only need one that is superior to the rest.

Joovy Room²

Hands down, the best travel crib for twins is the Joovy Room².

This product comes with a thick pad for the bottom as well as a soft, fitted, waterproof sheet.  This playpen can accommodate children from newborns to those 35 inches tall, which means you’ll be able to use it for several years.  (The manufacturer asks that you discontinue use when the child can climb out.)

Pros

There are many pros with the Joovy Room².

Spacious

This portable playpen is bigger than standard pack n plays, which makes it ideal for twins.  In fact, it’s nearly 10 square feet in size and can easily accommodate two children.

Additional Features

The Joovy Room² has wide mesh on all sides, so you can more easily see your children.

It also comes with a storage bag that you can use when traveling with the Joovy.

Finally, it has two wheels on the bottom to allow you to easily move the Joovy Room².

Twin Nursery Center Bassinet Playpen Accessory

For newborns and infants, you can purchase the Joovy Twin Nursery Center Bassinet Playpen Accessory.

Best Travel Crib for Twins

This handy accessory turns your playpen into the perfect portable crib for twin babies.  It includes:

  • Bassinet,
  • Bassinet divider (so each baby has their own separate space to sleep in), and
  • Changing table (which sits on top of the bassinet area)

For convenience, the changing table flips to the side when not in use.

The bassinet holds up to 30 pounds, which means the twins can use it until they weigh 15 pounds each.

Cons

Although twin parents love the Joovy Room², it does have some drawbacks.

Heavy

Because it is large and comes with a high-quality, thick mattress, some parents say that it’s heavy.  A few even say it’s too heavy to travel with.  However, that is a minority of parents.

Bunching Sheet

Other parents complain that after the sheet has been washed a few times, it has the tendency to bunch and not fit as snugly as when it was new.

Why the Joovy Room² Is the Only Twin Travel Crib To Consider

There are many twin travel cribs on the market, but since the Joovy Room² is superior to the rest, it’s the only one you need to consider. It beats the competitors in several aspects:

Affordable

The Joovy Room² is $179.99 no matter which retailer you buy from. The Joovy twin nursery center bassinet playpen insert is an additional $99.99. For the price, you get a twin travel crib that is approximately 50 percent bigger than others on the market. In addition, the shape is square rather than the typical rectangular shape, giving your children more room.

Flexible Buying Options

Some other twin travel cribs on the market include the twin bassinet as part of your purchase. You can save money if you need the bassinets because the set is about $50 cheaper than buying the Joovy Room² playpen and bassinet accessory. But not everyone needs the bassinet accessory. If you simply need a travel playpen, the Joovy Room² is cheaper and bigger than the competitors.

Excellent Reviews

Read reviews on Amazon, and you’ll see that customers give the Joovy Room² 4.7 out of 5 stars. Specifically, 85 percent of customers give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Where To Buy The Joovy Room²?

The Joovy Room² is available on Joovy’s website, Amazon.com, and Walmart.  As of the writing of this posting, all three are selling the Joovy² for the same price: $179.99.  Also, shipping times are comparable between the three retailers.   Joovy’s website says they ship in 2 to 5 business days.  Amazon also ships in 2 to 5 days and Walmart offers a similar shipping time.

So, where to get it is up to you.  Here are three main options, click on the price in each table cell to buy the crib.

JoovyAmazonWalmart
Price: $179.99Price: $179.99Price: $179.99

Joovy is not available on costco.com.

Don’t forget to use a cash-back credit card – but keep the balance paid off.

Final Thoughts

If you’re looking for the best travel crib for twins, consider adding the Joovy Room² to your baby registry or buying it.  This product will continue to serve your family for several years.

Read More

Discounts for Parents of Twins and Multiples

What I Love Most About Having Twins!

Tips on Buying Gifts for Twins

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Product Reviews for Parents Tagged With: Travel, Travel With Children, travel with toddlers, Twin Parenting, Twins

RV Living with Kids

November 10, 2022 | Leave a Comment

RV Living Full-Time

When my grandparents retired, they sold their house and began RV living full-time. They would travel year-round, but for about six weeks every summer, they would park their RV in our yard, which I loved. They loved the low cost and the freedom to go anywhere. However, though my grandma never complained, I know that she was sometimes frustrated by the lack of space. I think of the two of them whenever I read about the recent trend of RV living. Of course, this trend is not for everyone, but for certain families, RV living full-time with kids can offer incredible freedom.

How to Make RV Living Full-Time with Kids Successful

If you’re thinking of making the leap to RV living, you need to first lay the groundwork.

What to Do Before You Begin RV Living Full-Time

Before selling your house and buying an RV, ensure you’ll enjoy the lifestyle.

Rent or Borrow an RV

First, rent or borrow an RV and take the kids on an extended trip. You’ll see what it’s like to live in tight quarters as a family. The average American house is 2,200 square feet, but a 26-foot RV has only 230 square feet. So, you and your family need to get used to living in only 10 percent of the space you’re accustomed to. That can be a hard adjustment for many.

Don’t Sell Your House for the First Year

You may be tempted to sell your house to make money to buy the RV and travel, but if possible, try to hold onto your home for the first year you’re living in the RV. Even if you try out RV living for a few weeks, that’s not the same as living in an RV full-time. You may get a few months into RV living and decide it’s not for you. If that’s the case, you can always move back into your home with few repercussions. If you sell your home before moving to RV living full-time, you’ll have to start over if that lifestyle isn’t for you.

Suggestions for Smooth RV Living with Kids

If you try out RV living and decide you like it, there are steps you can take to adjust more quickly to the lifestyle.

Downsize

If you’re going to leave a 2,200 square foot house to move to a 230 square foot RV, you’ll need to downsize. . .a lot! Plan to get rid of 80 to 90 percent of your stuff.

Watch videos on minimalism and capsule wardrobes because that’s what you and the kids will need. If you don’t think you’ll live the RV lifestyle forever, put your things in storage. Otherwise, sell what you can and give the rest away.

Agree on Privacy Rules

There isn’t much room for privacy in an RV, so for your sake and the kids’, agree on rules from the beginning. For instance, if the bathroom door is closed, someone is in there, so don’t go in. (Leave it open the rest of the time.) Consider putting curtains around beds that aren’t in their own rooms. When someone is on their bed with the curtain closed, respect their privacy and leave them alone. This will be more important as your kids head into the tween and teen years.

Choose Child-Friendly Camping Sites

RV Living Full Time

Some campgrounds aren’t child friendly. When choosing campsites, find ones with playgrounds so the kids can play. It would be even better to find campsites near lakes and hiking trails so you can take the kids for a swim or a hike. Kids need time to get out their energy, especially if most of their time is spent in the RV.

Consider Homeschooling

When you begin your new lifestyle, you will need to look at school choices for kids. If your kids are in traditional brick-and-mortar school, you’ll need to make new arrangements. You have two options.

Homeschool

You could homeschool, which offers maximum convenience because you can homeschool while traveling. Even better, you can make your travels part of your homeschool by visiting historic attractions and studying the geography of the areas you travel to.

Online School

Another option is to have your children enroll in an online school. This is an excellent option if you plan to put your children back in traditional school eventually. (If you homeschool your kids and try to put them in conventional school later, you may run into resistance from the school district.)

The only drawback to online schooling while traveling is that you may struggle to get a reliable internet connection.

Have Regular Times to Come Back Home

When you hit the road to begin your new lifestyle, you will likely leave behind extended family and friends. To help your children handle possible homesickness, schedule time to return home regularly so your children can see their friends and maintain friendships.

In between regular visits, utilize Zoom to connect with hometown friends and family when you’re on the road.

Remember the Lessons You’re Teaching Your Kids

RV Travel Full-Time

RV living full-time can be stressful. However, remember that you’re teaching your kids amazing lessons by living this lifestyle. Because you have to downsize to live in an RV, your kids learn to become minimalists. Furthermore, you fill their lives with experiences, not stuff. How many kids can travel around the country as your kids do?

Your kids will see and do things that most Americans don’t get to. You can be in Florida one week and in Missouri the next. The choice is yours. In addition, between all the travel, you teach your children to be flexible and go with the flow.

Final Thoughts

RV living full-time with kids isn’t for the faint of heart. However, the rewards are rich. You give your children a chance to see the United States in ways few others get to. You are also more likely to grow closer as a family.

Read More

How to Travel with a Kid Who Isn’t a Great Traveler

4 Road Trip Tips When Traveling with Tweens

Best Travel Cribs for Twins

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Home and Living, Money and Finances Tagged With: RV living, Travel, Travel With Children, travel with toddlers

How to Travel with a Kid Who Isn’t a Great Traveler

October 20, 2022 | Leave a Comment

How to Travel with a Kid Who Isn't a Great Traveler

My husband and I love to travel. Neither of us traveled much during childhood, so we want to share the world with our kids. However, we’ve had to figure out how to travel with a kid who isn’t a great traveler because one of our children dislikes traveling. This child has always struggled with travel, and while we respect that, we don’t want to stop traveling because we feel it’s an integral part of the life experience we want to cultivate for our kids.

How to Travel with a Kid Who Isn’t a Great Traveler

Our child, who I will identify in this post as “Blair,” has struggled with traveling since the toddler years, so this isn’t a new phenomenon. However, we’ve learned these tricks to make travel better.

For Younger Kids

Take Breaks

When we traveled when Blair was younger, we scheduled plenty of breaks. While driving, we’d stop every hour or two, ideally at a rest area or restaurant with a playground.

When we were at our destination, we planned one event per day. The rest of the day was downtime. For instance, we went to Boston when Blair was a preschooler. There was so much I wanted to see and do, but we just did one activity per day. We went to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum and then returned to the hotel so Blair could watch some favorite kids’ shows and relax. Even though we didn’t get to go to as many destinations as I would have liked, Blair still remembers throwing the crates of tea off the ship.

Bring Travel Diversions

We usually travel by car, so I started packing travel diversions when the kids were little. Before the trip, I would buy small activities and trinkets like a water coloring book or a fidget spinner. Then, I would wrap the item, and the kids could open it once we reached a predetermined destination. So, the package would have a label, “Effingham, Illinois,” and the kids could open the package when we drove through Effingham. This gave them something to look forward to, and then the activity occupied them for some of the ride.

See Child-Friendly Sites

When you’re traveling with the preschool set, you won’t be able to see all of the destinations you’d prefer as an adult. Instead, know that you’ll have to include many child-friendly sites and activities. For our Boston trip, Blair remembers throwing the boxes of tea off the ship and the costumed interpreters throughout the city.

Remember, your kids are only little once. As they get older, you can visit attractions designed for tweens, teens, and adults.

Bring Lots of Snacks

Two things make kids this age cranky—lack of sleep and lack of food. We always bring abundant snacks to combat the latter. We have car snacks, which is especially important if you’re traveling in a deserted area without many food options. When we’re at our destinations and seeing sites, I always put snacks and bottled water in my backpack because a child will get hungry, even if we’re only out for two or three hours. My kids are all teens now, and we still carry ample snacks when traveling

For Older Kids

Once our kids got older, they needed fewer breaks on the road trip, so we were able to travel faster. However, I continued to bring travel diversions for them. We also used these techniques.

Create a Travel Map

Using Google Maps, I printed out our entire route for each trip. I put the maps in a transparent cover and give the kids dry-erase markers. They can mark our route as we go and see exactly where we are and when they get to open their road trip surprise (yes, I pack surprises for the kids to open at specific destinations even into their teens!).

Give Them a Say in the Trip

I would be happy visiting museums, historic houses, and living history museums everywhere we go. Some of my kids, not so much. Instead, now that they’re older, we let them each determine at least one activity we’ll do during the trip.

For instance, we recently went to Philadelphia, and one of our kids wanted to go mini-golfing. Since we could have gone mini-golfing anywhere, that wouldn’t have been my choice in a vacation destination. But we did it, and this child had a great time. Mini-golfing was one of the highlights of the trip for her. My other daughter picked visiting The Franklin Institute, which, again, I would not have chosen, but we had a good time, and that destination was another highlight of our trip.

Give Them a Digital Camera

Travel with a Kid Who Isn't a Good Traveler

If you have the means, give each child a digital camera. They can take pictures of the sites you’re seeing and make albums of the trip. They can also have fun taking silly pictures of themselves or one another.

Spring for Extra Space

If you travel with a kid who isn’t a good traveler, is that child an introvert? My guess is yes. Blair is an introvert and, like most introverts, needs time to unwind and recharge alone. Unfortunately, that can be tough to do when sharing a hotel room.

If you can, consider paying for extra space. For instance, instead of booking a hotel room, book a vacation rental by owner. If each child can get their own room, the reluctant traveler can have time to recharge and unwind alone. For Blair, part of the travel struggle is spending all day, every day of the vacation with family with no personal space. Larger accommodations can solve this problem.

Final Thoughts

You may consider abandoning travel with a kid who isn’t a great traveler, but remember all of the benefits that come from traveling—seeing new locations, how other people live, and learning living history. Rather than abandon traveling until your child grows up, try some of these techniques to make your next trip smoother.

Read More

Vacation Before Your Kids No Longer Want to Hang with You

4 Road Trip Tips When Traveling with Tweens

Traveling with Toddlers: How to Bring the Kids without Going Crazy

Melissa Batai
Melissa Batai

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in Arizona where she dislikes the summer heat but loves the natural beauty of the area.

Filed Under: Family Time, Parenting Blog at KidsAintCheap Tagged With: Travel With Children, travel with toddlers, traveling

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Basic Principles Of Good Parenting

Here some basic principles for good parenting:

  1. What You Do Matters: Your kids are watching you. So, be purposeful about what you want to accomplish.
  2. You Can’t be Too Loving: Don’t replace love with material possessions, lowered expectations or leniency.
  3. Be Involved Your Kids Life: Arrange your priorities to focus on what your kid’s needs. Be there mentally and physically.
  4. Adapt Your Parenting: Children grow quickly, so keep pace with your child’s development.
  5. Establish and Set Rules: The rules you set for children will establish the rules they set for themselves later.  Avoid harsh discipline and be consistent.
  6. Explain Your Decisions: What is obvious to you may not be evident to your child. They don’t have the experience you do.
  7. Be Respectful To Your Child: How you treat your child is how they will treat others.  Be polite, respectful and make an effort to pay attention.
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