Van Life With Kids: What It's Really Like Raising a Toddler
By Michael · October 12, 2026
People ask us all the time what van life with kids is actually like. We’re Michael and Rina, and our son Spencer has lived in our van with us since he was about 2 months old. He was born in January 2023. In October 2025 his little brother Archie joined us, and now we travel as a family of four.
This is the long version: our day, sleep, keeping a toddler busy, food, screens, potty training, safety, Cantonese, and the hard parts. It’s not a how-to, just what has worked for our family.
We filmed a typical two-kid day here: what it’s like to van life with a 3-year-old and a 3-month-old.
Quick facts
- How long: Spencer moved into the van with us at about 2 months old, in early 2023
- Driving: usually about two hours a day, timed to Spencer’s nap
- Sleeping: in our current van, the sofa turns into a full-size bed that all four of us fit on
- Keeping him busy: playgrounds, children’s museums, libraries and community centres
- Languages: Cantonese and English at home, roughly 40/60
- School: none yet. The places we visit are his classroom for now
Our normal day with a toddler
Everything in our day is built around Spencer’s nap. In early 2025, when he was 2, he’d usually wake up around 9 or 10. By the time we got him ready and ate breakfast it was 10:30 or 11, and then his nap was around 2 to 4, or 3 to 5. We don’t like him napping out at a park, so we head back to the van for it.
That one nap decides a lot. We once worked out that Disney wasn’t worth it yet, because we’d pay over $200 for maybe two or three hours of play before he needed to go back for his nap. So we decided to wait until he stops napping.
When someone asked what changed when we went from two to three, the answer was easy. We eat earlier. We watch a lot less TV, because any time the TV is on, Spencer asks for Elmo. And there’s a lot less space for our stuff and a lot more for his toys.
Naps and driving
When people ask how Spencer stays so chill in his car seat, we usually drive about two hours a day, right when he’s about to take his nap. We bribe him with snacks and songs for the rest.
If he falls asleep in the car seat, we leave him there. He won’t stay asleep if we move him, and he sleeps much better in the car seat because he’s used to it.
Bedtime and where everyone sleeps
We go to bed when Spencer goes to bed. If he sleeps at 10, we’re in bed at 10 with the lights off.
In our first van, Spencer slept in the same bed as us, usually in the middle and sometimes off to one side. When he was a newborn, his bassinet sat right next to us, and I slept on that side so I could help him if he cried.
We built our second van because the family was growing. The first one only seated three; this one seats four. Above the sofa bed there’s an elevator bed, which we weren’t sleeping on yet when we filmed our van tour in March 2026. It’s there for when Spencer wants to sleep by himself upstairs. I wrote more about how we built it in our DIY elevator bed post.
How we keep a toddler busy on the road
If you look at our Google Maps, most of the saved places are children’s museums, museums, zoos, outdoor playgrounds and indoor playgrounds. A lot of where we travel is really for Spencer to play. Some states have really nice playgrounds that we wish we’d had when we were young.
Playgrounds and being outside
When it gets cold, we head for warmer weather on purpose, so Spencer can be outdoors more than he’s indoors. Playgrounds are the easiest win. On a driving day in South Carolina, we stopped at one and played for about an hour before the next leg.
Children’s museums
Our membership at a children’s museum in New York is part of the ASTC Travel Passport program. That gets us free admission to other museums around the country, as long as they’re more than 90 miles from our home museum. I save the participating museums to a special Google Maps list, so when we’re in an area we can see what’s nearby. By late 2024 that list was up to several hundred places. It’s also part of the ACM network, which gets us 50% off at those children’s museums.
People always ask whether Spencer will go to school. At a science centre in Ithaca I said it the way I see it: this is, in a way, school for him. He’s exploring different things, learning and playing at the same time.
Libraries and story time
Libraries are free, slower paced than a children’s museum, and one of the best ways for Spencer to be around other kids. Story time is at a set time each week, so it works best when we’re staying in a bigger city. We’d like to go about once a week.
Community centres and swimming
When we were in Markham in July 2025 on a really hot afternoon, we spent time inside a community centre: a pool, a fitness centre, a beautiful library and a kids’ play area. The community centres there are so nice. As for swimming, we’re in no rush. Spencer loves water, even if he doesn’t love putting his head under. I’ve said I’m fine as long as he knows how to swim by about 6.
Food
Spencer eats what we eat. If he doesn’t eat what we eat, we don’t make him something special instead. He can have fruit for dinner. We’re not too strict on food right now. He has fries or ice cream sometimes, and if he’s full, he just stops.
He also helps. One morning in the van he mashed banana and cracked an egg for his own breakfast. Another time he wanted chopsticks for his steak, so I told him to show me his chopstick skills. I do most of the cooking in the van, and we’ve even cooked dinner while driving.
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Screen time
We try hard not to hand Spencer a phone or an iPad at restaurants. Once you go down that route, it’s a slippery slope, and I’d rather walk around with him or do something together while we wait for food.
In the car, no iPad. We only give him one on a plane. We tried it a few times early on when he was fussy in the car seat, and after a while he could live without it. He’d rather we talk to him, sing, or listen to music, and we keep snacks and toys up front. For a while he loved a little music box where he picks his own songs with cards.
He does watch a little TV, usually in the evening or while one of us rests. In December 2025 we started letting him play some educational apps on the iPad from time to time.
Potty training
We didn’t rush it. In spring 2025 people kept commenting that it was time, and we felt he wasn’t ready yet. Our plan was to train him when he told us he was ready. By that summer he was waking up with a dry diaper, and he’d started telling us when he pooped, so we figured he was almost ready.
In August 2026, Spencer was officially potty trained. Our toilet sits in a pull-out drawer in the van’s shower box, and he uses a smaller seat that goes on top. A nice bonus: no more of his diapers to store.
Safety
Both car seats ride in the back. There are airbags in the front, so a car seat can’t go there. Spencer’s seat faces backwards for that reason.
Spencer has fallen out of the van onto the ground while pushing on the mosquito net, and he’s face-planted riding his bike. We also keep a fire extinguisher under the sink.
Speaking Cantonese with the boys
Behind the camera, Rina and I mostly speak Cantonese. Spencer mostly hears English everywhere else, so we try to bring it into his life. We aim for about 40% Cantonese and 60% English. When we ask him something, I’ll often say it in English and in Chinese so he understands the question both ways. He understands most of our Cantonese and speaks some, and he’s started mixing the two in one sentence. In October 2025 Rina ordered some tap-to-hear books in Cantonese and Mandarin. Keeping him speaking Cantonese is the goal.
What’s hard
- No more date nights. We can’t really leave Spencer with family, because he’s so used to hanging out with us.
- Doing one thing a day. At a national park we usually only have time for one thing. Here’s what that’s really like with a little kid.
- Meeting other kids. We want him to get used to other children. Libraries and playgrounds are where that happens for us.
- Family far away. When people ask if he misses his grandparents, I think he does. He just can’t say it yet. When we FaceTime grandma, he shows her what he’s playing with.
- Showers and laundry. We wrote about how we shower and how we do laundry with two kids.
Now with two
Archie joined us on the road as a baby. We cover the baby stage in its own post, so just the short version here. Apart from crying in the car seat when we drive, he doesn’t really cry in the back when we’re hanging out. He sleeps really well at night. He still wakes up now and then, but he isn’t screaming in the middle of the night.
Why we do it
Spencer basically grew up in the van. When he was 22 months old I said it on camera: Rina and I had never left him for more than a few hours, we never put him in daycare, and I’d watched him grow up his whole life. In my opinion he doesn’t really throw tantrums. He’s a happy kid who is always smiling.
I’ve lived in a house and an apartment and worked a normal job. The constant motion of van life makes life more interesting and every day more worth living. Honestly, I think it’s a better way of living than the conventional way. It’s definitely not for everybody, though, and if you need more space an RV might suit you better.
We’ll keep sharing how it goes as the boys grow. Watch our day with a 3-year-old and a 3-month-old on YouTube.
