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When you travel with kids, there is a lot more to think about than packing for yourself and hopping on a plane. There are so many more variables thrown in. Will they fall ill before you even travel? Will they fall and hurt themselves? Will you lose their luggage and be without your essentials? It takes the level of worry up a notch. And for many parents, it's par for the course as far as their children are concerned.

However, travel insurance becomes slightly more important once you start taking kids along for the ride with you. And sure, many families book this type of cover for peace of mind, but do you actually know what it covers and how you can claim if you need to?

Let's dive into some of the basics of what travel insurance actually covers when you travel with kids.

Trip Cancellation Has Specific Qualifying Conditions

Every type of travel insurance will have specific conditions regarding trip cancellation, but when you have kids, the reasonfor the cancellation can extend far beyond the usual ones that gives you cause to cancel a trip. So it's always worth reading the small print before you pay for the cover, so you know what to expect and what isn't covered before you need to make a claim. For example, a documented illness with a physician that disqualifies your child from flying, a death in the immediate family, or a severe weather event will likely be covered. But a child's run of illnesses that didn't need medical attention, or your child being too scared to board the plane won't qualify you. However the thing is what is and isn't covered can vary from providers so you need to check each specifically  before paying so you know exactly what you're covered for.

Emergency Medical Care

When you travel outside of the US, your domestic medical coverage won't cover you for anything. Your travel insurance, however, will. If your child receives any type of medical treatment, including emergency treatment, you need to be able to rely on your travel insurance to help you cover the cost of the care they receive. Otherwise, those bills all come directly to you, and you might not realize the full extent of the cost until you are hit with a bill.

Always check the per-person coverage limit, especially for children, and make sure you know if they need to be listed separately to qualify for this coverage or if they're automatically covered. Providers such as Generali will have this clearly laid out in their terms and conditions for you to find easily.

Lost Luggage

Most policies have a cap on reimbursing you for lost luggage. It's usually per individual items, not the bag total. A bag containing a laptop, camera, medications, and clothing is not covered as one loss; each item will be assessed individually against the per-item limit. And this can often be lower. This can be especially important if you need to travel with spice medical equipment or you have things your child cannot leave home without.

Check the limits, take a picture of everything you take with you, find receipts if you can, and record those too, just in case you need to claim.