As warmer weather approaches, plenty of families are thinking about vacations and contemplating heading to a theme park with their kids for the first time. Disneyland and Disneyworld seem particularly popular options lately with the promotions being offered for birthdays and military personnel.

I’ve been to Disneyland twice with my kids. I have family who live just a couple of hours from the Magic Kingdom, so it’s hard to resist the urge to head down for a day, especially when there is the potential for my daughter meeting one of the princesses and my son can meet Woody. Since I’ve been there twice – and made mistakes both times – I’m hoping my experiences can help you if you’re planning to include this popular attraction into your vacation this year.

Get a room.
Even though we were staying only a couple hours away from Disneyland, we still rented a hotel room directly across from the front gates of Disneyland for a day. This allowed us to get there the night before and get a good night’s sleep. It was also great to know that if the kids needed a break, we could take a quick walk across the street and grab a quick nap or simply some time to relax while also being able to return to the park. How did we know to do this? The year before I had taken the kids without my husband and without a hotel room, and it was pretty close to a nightmare.Start slow.
The first year I braved Disneyland my husband was away on military deployment, so I went with the kids and my brother. His kids had been to Disneyland about a million times since he worked at the Disney studios and could get in for free, so when he saw that the Pirates of the Caribbean ride didn’t have a long line he urged us all onto the ride. It wasn’t until we were all loaded into our boat that I realized that this could be a really scary experience for my poor kids. It was their first theme park ride ever, and it included bombs going off and skeletons screaming. I felt like the worst mom in the world while my poor kids sat trembling in my lap. Of course, their cousins who are of the same age were cheering because they had been on the ride so many times in the past, but I was sure my kids would be scarred for life.

It’s worth it.
My daughter waited in line for an hour and a half to meet Cinderella, Belle and Ariel. At first I was going to say forget it, this isn’t worth it, but if you have never seen a toddler girl get her first glance of Cinderella in all her splendor then you haven’t lived. Was it worth it to stand in line for so long? Absolutely.

Don’t talk up one thing in particular.
On our second trip to Disneyland I kept telling the kids how much fun it would be to go on the ride It’s a Small World. We talked about how much we loved it last time and how great it would be to do it again. Guess what? The ride was closed for repairs the day we were there. My kids cried, I was angry, and my husband could do nothing but offer everyone some ice cream (at $8 each) to get our minds off the ride I had built up so much in their minds. Next time, I’ll just stick to talking about how great the park will be, but not one particular ride.

Two final tips:

1. Bring or rent a stroller. Even if your kid is usually able to keep up with walking around town or in the mall, there is just something about Disneyland and other theme parks that is downright exhausting for little kids.
2. Take A LOT of pictures! You never know when that priceless shot of your little one is going to present itself. Be ready! There are so many fun things you can do with photos these days like imprinting the shot of my daughter with Cinderella on to a pillow for her bed, or creating a scrapbook of the entire vacation to share with family.

Every summer, temperatures reach scorching levels, climbing to triple digits in some states. Every year, officials warn parents against leaving their child in vehicles even for a moment. The sad thing is, it seems like every year, there are reports of babies being forgotten in the backseat of the family car. Sometimes it ends happily, with the child being discovered, unharmed. Unfortunately, there are still cases where the children are left in the oven-hot cars for hours, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and then found dead after. One child who is a victim of this is one child too many.

So parents, be mindful of your child in the backseat. Don’t let the running list of errands in your head distract you from your precious cargo. Never leave your child in a car unattended. It is not only dangerous but against the law in most cases. Even if you feel like you will only be gone for a few minutes and plan to crack the window wide open, you never know what might happen. A child’s system is so delicate, babies even more so, that they could suffer from heat stroke at the blink of an eye. Keep them safe and cool this summer, and don’t let them be another statistic.

We live in southeastern Virginia surrounded by water. I love being near the water-most of the time! When hurricane season begins, I start to worry a little bit about living near the coast I admit! I also worry a little bit now that we have a young child who is walking and exploring the world around him.

Where I grew up, we had lots of water around our property. Our neighbor had a large pond, a creek divided our property into two, and our water supply came from a spring house. My mother spoke often about her water based fears, but it didn’t really occur to me as a kid that she had valid concerns.

I didn’t have to deal with water worries until I had my son. Before then, we lived inland in another state and we didn’t have a pool in the backyard. We didn’t have a pond, a spring house, or a creek either.

Things have changed. Not only do we live near the water, but we have a pool and a pond in the backyard. I understand my mother’s water worries now.

When our son began crawling, I started worrying about safety issues, like all parents do. We began to baby proof the house and continued as our son’s world expanded. Our son is walking like a champ now and it is summer time. His older siblings are in and out of the house and spending a lot of time in the pool. I began to ponder how I could prevent a water accident, but yet allow the older children access between the pool and the house. It was time to baby proof the yard too.

We researched infant swimming lessons which help your child to learn about water safety and basic survival skills if they would happen to fall into a pool. We haven’t enrolled him yet, but I intend to do so.

I created a set of barriers between the pool and the house. We keep our gates locked to the yard because of safety concerns as we have a neighborhood full of small children. The only way to access the pool is through the laundry room/office in the house.

In the hallway leading to the house door which leads to the pool, we set up several baby gates for safety. The older children can step over the gates, but my son can’t.

We put a baby safety handle on the door that leads out to the pool. My son can’t turn the handle, but the older children can. We also put a double lock on the door so at night, I can check to make sure that both locks are locked for safety.

We put in a new pet door and door as we had a door for our Labrador Retriever to go in and out into the yard. While the door was a great thing for the dog, it was also big enough for our son to crawl through.

We have steps that lead up to the pool and we are currently building a deck and fence around our above ground pool. The fence will be gated for additional safety.

Are you keeping outdoor hazards in mind when you baby proof your property? What are some things that you have done to keep your child safe during the summer season?

Spring is arriving in the northern USA, at long last. After all that winter, I am so excited to do all those summer activities – eating ice cream, playing at the park, going to the beach and swimming.

Something all parents and children need to be aware of that the water in lakes, pools, swimming holes, streams and rivers is still very, dangerously, cold, even though the ice has melted and the air is warm. It will take months for the frozen water to warm up enough to be safe for swimming.

In my home state of Minnesota, a nine-year-old boy drowned on a warm April day after jumping from a boat into a lake near his home. The shock of the cold water paralyzed him and he never made it back to shore.

After this tragedy, his family and friends formed ColdWaterWarning, an action group to educate parents and children about the dangers of swimming in cold water.

Jumping or falling into very cold water causes shock, paralysis, and a gasp reflex that makes the swimmer inhale the icy-cold water. If they are not rescued immediately then it will almost certainly be fatal.

Children are most vulnerable to the dangers of cold water. Please tell your children about the dangers of swimming in cold water, and stay out of lakes, rivers and pools until summer.