Travel in Spain with Children

If you want to Travel in Spain with Children then you are in for a treat. Imagine a place where you can keep your children up as long as you want and nobody will frown at you. You can take your children to a restaurant with you in the evening and you won’t find any adults phoning up social services to report you. Spain is a country where children are allowed a lot of the freedom that we give only to adults. It may not be right to keep a five year old up until eleven o’clock but the Spanish don’t worry about it. It means that for a short time whilst you are on holiday if you want to you can take your children with you wherever you go and they will be welcomed. Children, especially those with blonde hair or blue eyes will find their hair tousled as they walk about. The Spanish are very tactile and both men and women will go up to children, have a quick chat with them as they pass about their business. Free sweets and biscuits are often handed out.If you are travelling with a baby in Spain and need to do a quick nappy change, you will find nappy changing facilities a rare sight indeed. Parents usually use their prams/pushchairs for this. Baby formula is found in local supermarkets or pharmacies. They are different to those in the UK but some brands you will recognize such as Nestle. The tins have numbers on them. Number one is for younger babies up to four months and number two is for older babies. If you have a child than will only drink SMA formula please bring it with you as at the time of writing I have never seen this brand available in Spain. Babies can sometimes get upset stomachs if their baby milk is changed so if you are worried about this just pack extra formula from the UK. Baby foods are available from supermarkets in much larger jars than we have in the UK and the flavours are different. I found with my children that there were favourites but it took a little time. If you have a fussy eater then it may again be best to pack some baby food in tins from home so that you do not have the stress of trying to persuade your child to eat. There are many different brands of nappies. The brand DIDOT seems to be one of the most popular and is made by the same manufacturer as Pampers.When travelling with children in Spain by car you must by Law have them restrained with a seat belt and young children are not allowed to travel in the front seat of a car. The police will stop you and fine you if you are found to be on the wrong side of the Law.The sun in Spain is very intense, especially in the summer and young children should not be out in it when possible. If they must be on the beach in the middle of the day they must have high protective cream added frequently, sunglasses, a hat with a wide brim and if possible lightweight long sleeved tops. It is very easy for children to burn and studies have shown that children that have been exposed to sunburn more than twice have a highly increased of having skin cancer when they are adults. It is a parent’s sole responsibility to ensure that their children do not burn. We used to take a long lunch and then go to the pool or beach much later in the afternoon when we were on holiday in Spain. Putting on suntan lotion is a pain but not as much as sunburn!There are a few customs regarding children in Spain which may be of interest to you. Girls in Spain have their ears pierced within a few days of being born and it is a common practice to shave the infants head in the belief that it will make the hair grow stronger. I have a Spanish friend who wasn’t keen on the idea of shaving off her daughter’s beautiful head of hair. However it is still a firm belief of the older generation. Her mum babysat for a day and on her return my friend found her daughter was bald!Saying this, the Spanish are much more relaxed about having children than we are in the UK. They have a strong sense of family and with most parents working they do not feel the need to hire a babysitter for their children when they can so easily take their children with them wherever they go. If the children are tired the next day then they have a little nap in the afternoon, their siesta. This works for Spanish children, but in my experience trying to get a child from the UK to take a nap in the afternoon is like pulling teeth.So if you want to avoid tantrums caused by overtired children perhaps you may only want to try the late nights with the children a couple of times for the sake of a happy family holiday.

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