MomTalk: Your Favorite Beaches (And What To Pack)

Regina Martine
I love Summer, and I love the beach, but I always seem to forget what a pain it can be to get three kids ready and everything packed for the trip. I grew up in Upstate New York, so I am still amazed that we can take a day trip to the ocean pretty much any time we want. However, it requires some serious preparation.

We bring a blanket, beach umbrella, folding chairs for the adults, a squishy cooler bag full of food and juice boxes, water, towels, and sunscreen. We usually bring a few sand toys, too. Beach days have become much easier and more fun now that my kids can all carry some of our stuff. Trying to wrangle three little kids by myself whilst schlepping all our gear across a scorching hot parking lot wasn’t fun for anyone.

Nahant beach is usually our beach-day destination of choice. It is easy to get to, cheap to park ($3!) and usually pretty clean. It has decent boogie boarding waves, but is pretty shallow, so the kids can go fairly far from shore and still be in waist-deep water. This is good for nervous mamas like me. My kids are all pretty good swimmers, but scary things lurk in the ocean, and I want my kids to be cautious and aware, but not afraid. Nahant beach allows them to really enjoy the ocean with little chance of harm. My kids are all pretty fearless about the ocean, even after being scraped up and tossed around by some serious, hurricane-induced waves a few summers ago at Crane beach. They were also undeterred by our neighbors’ tale of a 25 foot dying basking shark washing up right in front of them on the beach in Plymouth. They’ve also never seen Jaws, and I have.

If we go to one of the “fancy” beaches, I feel obligated to stay all day to make up for the exorbitant parking fees. Personally, I think if we are paying 25 dollars a day to park there should be porters to carry all my crap from the lot to the beach or strolling waiters serving mojitos. Crane beach in Ipswich is a truly beautiful beach, and almost worth the outrageous parking price.

When the real beach seems like too much trouble or too much direct sun for me and my fair children, we go to the lake at Breakheart Reservation. The parking is free, the beach is an easy walk from the parking lot, and there is plenty of shade, so we can leave the beach umbrella at home. The ice cream man is often there all afternoon, too. This is the kind of “beach” I went to as a kid, since the ocean was 200 miles away.

A few pointers to remember, whichever beach you happen to visit:

• Put sunblock on before you leave the house, not when you get to the beach.
• Somehow kids eat more at the beach than anywhere else, so pack accordingly. Ice packs will keep food cool for a while, but not all day, so eat perishable foods first.
• Cheese and goGurt should not be left in a beach bag overnight.
• Moms need sunblock, too
• Taking lots of kids to the beach is not much fun if you are the only adult. It is boring at best and really scary and dangerous at worst. I like to keep a 4 kid limit if other parents aren’t coming. If you need to be in the water with them, no more kids than you have hands to grab them. Undertows are scary when you are the only grownup, and it makes for a very stressful trip to the beach.
• Seagulls will take your lunch, often right out of your hand. Bring extra snacks.
• Reapply sunblock. A lot.

Laurie Hunt
I have tried several beaches and learned my kids are not fans of big waves so our favorite beach is Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester.  Wingaersheek is also fun because there are lots tidal pools with hermit crabs, snails and if you are really lucky you can find a starfish.  The beach is also dotted with sand dollars.  I never knew they were a charcoal gray/black color before I found one here!

Our favorite time of year to go to the beach is actually in April/early May.  Because the beach is not crowded we can fly kites more easily and there is a lot less competition for great shells then too.  Our favorite time of day to go to the beach during the summer is actually dinner time. I burn easily so it is a great time for me to go and really enjoy the beach with the kids without having to hide under the umbrella and it is also a lot less crowded.  An added bonus is you can avoid the $25 parking fee by going after 4pm and avoid the stress of worrying about finding a parking spot if you are not out of the house at the crack of dawn.

As far as what to bring, I pack a picnic dinner, chairs for whoever is willing to carry their own, a blanket, towels, a couple of buckets and shovels. (My best beach blankets are actually large tablecloths – they are great for protecting surfaces from art projects, make great tents and beach blankets too.)  Sometimes I’ll bring my camera along – an added bonus to going to the beach that late is enjoying the beautiful sunset.  Everything we bring, except the chairs and buckets, must fit into my LLBean Boat and Tote bag – the extra large size with zipper top.  The best $40 I ever spent.  It is indestructible and if you have a front loading washer, it is easy to clean.

I always bring my phone in case of an emergency and put it in a plastic baggie to keep it safe from sand.  I recently received an email about a cool new product which, I’m sure, would do an even better job if you have an iPhone called the iPhone scuba suit.

Lastly there are items I bring that are left in the car - water to rinse off and sweatshirts for the ride home.  Empty water/milk/soda bottles with caps work great for the water and can easily live the back of the minivan for the summer.

Jillian Sallee
Our mornings at our Cape house are spent debating the pros and cons of each of our favorite beaches.  The kids vacillate between Corporation Beach, Mayflower Beach, and Chapin Beach.  All these beaches are in Dennis on the bayside of the Cape.  At low tide, the kids can run and play over a mile deep of tidal flats.  When the tide is high, the beach can get crowded but the fishing is fantastic.  At night...well there just isn’t any better place to watch a sunset on Cape Cod.  

Lily’s favorite is Chapin Beach, or Chasing Beach, as she calls it.  It’s the most private of the beaches, with a small parking lot, so even though the beach can be small when the tide is all the way in, there is still plenty of room to spread out.  The only reason I don’t like going there is there is no bathroom and that means we either stay for a short time or....we pee in the ocean...don’t judge.  

Ryan prefers Corporation Beach, but that’s mostly because in addition to the amazing beach it also has a swing set where the swings go wicked high!  The beach itself has the same low tide, long sandy beach, and water that is actually fairly warm.  Ok, not warm per say, but not Maine cold!  Corporation also boasts a brand new snack bar and bathroom...we do not usually partake in the snack bar (mostly because I pack way too many snacks already) but the bathroom is certainly convenient!  

Mayflower is the beach Tom and I prefer and Juliet just really goes wherever I go!  I grew up going to a private beach that runs adjacent to Mayflower so it’s a little nostalgic for me.  My girlfriends and I used to walk from our private beach down to the public beach, pretending we were older than we really were, looking for guys to play volleyball with...sigh...those were the days :)  Anyways, the beach itself is still awesome.  You can’t beat the low tide with the kids, there is just so much to do.  The only thing that’s not so great, is that because it is so big and wide open, the fear of losing a child is sometimes on my mind.  As scary as this thought is, it should be more on my mind, a child could run for 10 seconds and be lost in the crowd of the beach.  Luckily my mom has hawkeyes so as long as she is with us, I feel comfortable!

One other beach on the Cape that I would be remiss if I didn’t mention, would be Race Point Beach in Provincetown, MA.  The absolute serenity I feel when we go there, looking out over the ocean, is unmatched at any of the other beaches.  The water is rough up there, so it’s not that great for the kids.  Standing on the hot sand and looking out to the sky, it feels like the tip of the earth, it’s peaceful and intimidating and it makes me think.   We try to go at least once a year, usually in the fall, and it is always an adventure that I look forward to.   

Don’t be afraid of the bridge traffic, it’s really not that bad...c’mon down! Let’s go to the beach!  No, not around here... Let’s head to the Cape!  

Tasha Schlake Festel
I remember when a trip to the beach involved packing a blanket, a towel, sunscreen and a book. I also remember using all of those things. OK, maybe not the sunscreen, but definitely the rest. I remember that the days were relaxing and lazy, an easy way to spend a day off from work. A vacation.

That was 10 years ago.

These days, a day at the beach starts the night before, with a lot of swearing and wondering why the hell I thought a beach day would be a good idea, as I scurry around to find the “right” beach towels, make sure the aerosol sunscreens are not empty (that was a tough lesson), sort through the sand toys to ensure that there is more than 1 shovel (another tough lesson), grab the all-important baby powder, make lunches, gather snacks, and confirm that there are, in fact, ice packs in the freezer. We start the beach adventure with a trip to Calareso’s for fruit and a stop at the gas station next door for some kind of juice-ish/Gatorade-y drink. Then, sweating like mad and irritated as can be, we head out for a day of god damned fun.

It’s actually gotten a lot better as the kids get older. I no longer feel like a Sherpa, schlepping all of the crap for some adventure-seeking tourists. And other than the resentment I feel for, you know, having to actually watch the kids so they’ll stay safe in the crowds and surf, beach days are almost relaxing again. Almost. I still can’t nap, but sometimes I get to read a few pages.

A few tips to turn your beach frown upside down:

1. Pack baby powder.
I have my brilliant sister to thank for this invaluable tip. Baby powder is the Magic Eraser for sand. Just sprinkle some on the “affected area” and voila! Brush the sand off. It’s perfect for hands about to eat and feet about to be stuffed in to shoes. It’s worth the real estate in your beach bag.

2. Do not pack a communal cooler.
Don’t pack a big ass cooler. Pack an individual cooler for yourself and one for each of your kids. Include lunch and snacks for the day. Don’t bring one big bag of chips or a gallon ziplock of grapes. Take the time to split it up into snack-sized bags and divvy ‘em up.

3. The kids have backpacks. They should use them!
Have the kids schlep their own crap. They do it for school every day. Have them pack their own bags with a towel, surf shirt, lunch bag, water and anything they think they’ll need for a day of fun. You’ll be amazed at how much less they pack when they have to carry it themselves. There is no time like the present to teach independence and self-reliance! If they have something that doesn’t fit in the backpack – like sand toys, for example – then they can still bring it, they just have to agree to carry it themselves.

4. Get a backpack beach chair.
I got mine at Target, but you can find ‘em all over. Fill up the outside pouch with your lunch, your book/Kindle, sunscreen, baby powder, water (or adult beverage of choice), hat, People StyleWatch, and any other essentials. Put your (small) beach blanket in the seat part of the chair. Strap it on and hit the trail to the beach. A back pack chair, while not remotely cool (let’s not kid ourselves here), will free up your hands to carry a stand-alone umbrella and a roll-up table, if you’re feeling fancy.

As for where to go, sadly, I don’t have any secret spots. Well, none that I’m prepared to share. My first suggestion is to find a rich friend with access to a private beach. Or a friend of a friend. And no, I will not give you the phone numbers of anyone I know. Find your own connected friends!

1. Salisbury Beach
This one is my favorite. It’s only about 40 minutes from Wakefield and is beautiful. There’s plenty of parking and it’s only $7/day. You can buy a season pass for just $35. They also have bathrooms and outdoor showers. If I recall correctly, there is also a concession stand. And the ice cream man comes too. Hooray!

2. Lynch Park in Beverly
If you’re looking for more science and less swimming, Lynch Park is awesome. There are tidal pools galore for exploring, and buckets and buckets full of hermit crabs and snails to be discovered. Just be prepared for tears when you tell the kids they can’t bring those little critters home. There’s also a playground, a beautiful rose garden, awesome views, picnic spaces, bathrooms and an ice cream stand.

3. Don’t knock Breakheart.
If I just don’t have a “real” beach in me or we’re getting a late start – like after 7AM – we hit Breakheart. Yes, I know it’s called the Poor Man’s Cape, but I like it. The kids can swim, play, explore and build stuff in the dirt/sand beach. And I can read. Woo hoo! We often ride our bikes from the parking lot to the beach, so that 8 minute walk turns in to a 2 minute bike ride. Backpacks are key. And yes, I will ride my bike even with my backpack chair strapped on. It’s a sight.

I love that living in the Boston area allows us such easy access to the ocean. I grew up in Pennsylvania, so a day at the beach was something we did only a few times a year at the Jersey shore. My kids are in the ocean a few times a month, something unheard of for me. As with most things, the older the kids, the easier it gets. The two keys to a good beach day are backpacks and baby powder. Remember those and you won’t go wrong. Oh, and a little sunscreen too.

Melissa Schools
Four years ago, to the day, my husband and I left Pennsylvania to move to Massachusetts. We had three kids at that point, ages five, three and fifteen months. Even though the move would bring us closer to family, it was still three hours to my parents' house and yet I had lost my entire network of platinum-value friends. I was miserable.

While looking for a house, we ended up in a one-bedroom apartment in Lowell for the summer. I had preconceived ideas about Lowell that proved untrue, thankfully. I was relieved to find we felt safe there and enjoyed many activities and attractions geared toward children. Nevertheless, our apartment was sandwiched between apartments full of late-sleeping restaurant workers and our kids are determined early risers. My husband was gone from about seven in the morning until seven at night, commuting to his new job in Boston. And our second car died so that he needed a ride to and from the train station- at wake up time and bedtime. Did I mention that we had three small boys and I was miserable?

Someone, please call the “Waaaah-mbulance,” right? Well, this is where the story becomes relevant to the topic. Moms of small children: DON’T BE AFRAID TO TAKE YOUR KIDS TO THE BEACH!

Salisbury Beach State Reservation was our collective salvation that summer. I was so desperate to be in a place where we could spread out and have some fun and relaxation, that I overcame my abject fear of taking little ones to the beach. We’d go first thing in the morning. Or, we’d grab picnic food and go for dinner and stay until bedtime.

Now, four years later, we’re happily settled in a house in Wakefield, we have four kids with one on the way, and we go to closer beaches (covered in other submissions this week), but there are a couple principles I  still follow for happy beach experiences.

Practice simplicity. I have a sister who would take her children to a local swimming place a couple miles from home. She brought water but NO SNACKS. What?? Yes, NO SNACKS. She’d feed them beforehand and when they started to complain of hunger, they’d return home.

I practice a form of that for longer/farther away excursions. I bring lots of water, fresh fruit cut into bite-sized pieces and one sandwich per kid. I throw in one toothpick per person for the fruit. That’s it! Tell your kids, “We’re not at the beach to eat.” Leave a big bag of popcorn, pretzels or tortilla chips in the car for the ride home. Buy ice cream on the way home, if necessary. Your kids will still have happy childhood beach memories if you don’t have a grocery store’s worth of food choices with you.

I pack one folding chair for me and one towel per kid. They don’t need a blanket. They really don’t.

We bring two boogie boards for three kids. It’s a good opportunity to practice sharing. Boogie boards double as awesome kid seats for lunchtime and saves towels from getting too sandy.

I have a net bag for a few beach toys: three buckets, three small shovels and two or three monster trucks, Matchbox-sized, for the roads we build. We bring one big beach shovel. Don’t bring a beach ball. It’ll blow away. A tennis ball is a better bet. Remember that too many choices for toys or food just make kids picky or fussy. Picky, fussy kids drive moms crazy. Practice measured deprivation for your own sanity.

We do bring a simple cabana/tent that sets up easily and breaks down easily, but only for the hottest days.

Oh yeah: spray sunscreen for reapplication. They may get mesothelioma later in life from the aerosol, but for now, I’m going for convenience. I also sunscreen them with classic sunscreen lotion before the beach, all over, even if they will wear swim shirts/rash guards.

Strategically corral your kids. One mom I know puts the bulk of her family’s stuff on dry sand, but then plants her chair near a lifeguard station, close to the water’s edge. Her kids know where she is and she can see her kids, whether in sand or water.

My sister draws two very wide lines in the sand from her family’s stuff down to the water, marking out visual boundaries for her kids, so they know how far right or left they can go.

If you have kids at ages where you have to watch them every second, resign yourself to being with them in the sand or water and channel your inner child. Postpone dreams of reading or napping at the beach and share the wonder of nature for now. (Or tether them with a harness and kid-leash!)

Happy summer, everyone!