We decided to fly to Mexico with our three children 4, 6, and 8 years old, this past summer. We would be flying from Denver to Cancun and staying at the resort for the entire week. We began planning our trip about a month before we left and the first thing, we looked into was what type of masks were comfortable for long time wear. We would be wearing these masks for several hours in airports and for roughly four hours on a plane. My children have been places wearing masks to the grocery store, church and other places and are not bothered by them. I know they are perfectly capable of wearing the masks in that time mentioned, however as parents, we wanted them to be comfortable during the trip. The kids have tried the neck gaiters; however, they choose the masks that went behind their ears. So, we packed 7 masks per kiddo, with several different thicknesses and styles. This was also a great time to look into masks that they would want for school. We also packed 5 masks of varying styles for mom and dad with a backup of 15 disposable hospital masks for the family. As a mom, I would advise to pack at least 1-2 masks per day, per kiddo, and plan on washing them as well. Our kids get them wet, drop them, lose them, etc, so always pack more masks than you think you would need. I would definitely pack at least 2 masks per kiddo, for the flight. 
The masks were the most important part of traveling, after the mask situation was handled, we began to look into hand sanitizers or “han-i-tizers” as our daughter calls them. I bought unscented hand sanitizers at the beginning of the pandemic, as many stores were out of supplies. The kids hated the non-smell smell of these, as did their parents. However, after months of this pandemic, we have found several varieties that we love, specifically Raw Sugar, non-drying hand sanitizer. This brand comes in several scents, that the kids love and really does not dry out our hands. The second brand that we love is The Scent Factory, that we bought at CVS. I would just like to add that our favorite scent is the bubble gum scent. We packed several to-go bottles, throwing one in each kid’s backpack and felt we were covered in this area as well.
Before moving on to the last COVID precaution item, I wanted to address the question about gloves and face shields. These questions have come up several times. As a family, we do not wear gloves, as we prefer to wash our hands as much as possible, as well as using hand sanitizer frequently. We did not think the kiddos would be comfortable with face shields and therefore opted out. We felt that our kids would be moving these around their faces, touching their faces, and causing more exposure than blocking the virus, the desired hope. However, we did see many adults in the airport and some on the plane with these shields.
The last supply we were looking into was disinfectant wipes, also something that at the time in August, was out of stock in many stores. We found a great brand at Target and also found that these wipes could help get out stains the kiddos ended up with on their shirts. We made sure to wipe down all the airplane seats and tray tables prior to the family sitting down. Cleaning areas, fresh clean hands, and masks are what one can control on a flight. Make sure you feel comfortable and control what you can, as you cannot control whether the person next to you is wearing a mask, however the captain of the plane can. On our flight home, the captain made two separate announcements that passengers need to make sure that they are wearing a mask and it needs to be covering their nose and mouth. There were several texts and emails sent to every passenger prior to the flight. These messages included updates that the plane will be full and that all passengers will need to wear a mask the entire flight. We flew United Airlines, which we highly recommend, as they also allowed passengers to change or cancel their flight without penalties if the passenger was not comfortable with the COVID guidelines. As a traveling mom of three little kiddos, traveling with United Airlines made me feel comfortable and safe, so I would like to thank them.
