Stress-free family holidays: How to travel with children!

Stress-free family holidays: How to travel with children!

For many parents, family holidays are often stressful and not relaxing. As a recent study shows, the challenges when traveling with children are diverse. Also the psychotherapist Felizitas Ambaren, co-host of the podcast Relationship cosmos, who has an eight-year-old daughter herself, provides valuable insights into this topic. She emphasizes that traveling with children brings with it variables of uncertainty as there are many people with different needs.

However, traveling also offers the opportunity for children to develop important skills such as flexibility, social skills and self-confidence. To guarantee such positive experiences, careful planning is crucial. Parents should clarify before the trip what they expect from the holiday - this includes aspects such as activities, accommodation and surroundings as well as the wishes of the children, which should be taken into account in the planning from primary school age onwards.

The right planning for a relaxing holiday

Good planning starts before you leave. Parents should keep in mind their children's needs, such as hunger, thirst and exercise. Flexibility while traveling is also important; Daily meetings can help address the family's needs and avoid conflicts that often arise from overstimulation. The first day of travel should ideally be planned without a program to avoid overtiring. Screen time can be acceptable in moderation to make long drives a little more enjoyable.

In addition, parents should also plan time for themselves to be more relaxed. A “breakaway week” before the holidays can be helpful to reduce the stress of everyday life.

Podcast as a valuable resource

Felizitas Ambaren and her podcast partner Sabine met on a radio show in 2019. Their shared passion for psychology led to the decision to create the podcast Relationship cosmos to start. The podcast, which has been published every two weeks since the first episode in March 2020, highlights topics related to relationships from an individual psychological and social perspective.

The two coaches have now published almost 100 episodes and were named the most listened to podcast on Spotify in Switzerland in 2022, 2023 and 2024. The podcast is independent and ad-free and is funded by donations from the audience. They also received the “Suisse Podcast of the Year” podcast award in 2023.

In 2023 they also published their first book together, which invites readers on a journey to self-knowledge and debuted at number 1 on the bestseller charts in its first week. This book and the ongoing stage tour until the end of 2025 consolidate her influence in the Swiss podcast and book landscape.