There’s a reason your child covers their ears every time you walk past a construction site. Little ears are sensitive—and they’re especially vulnerable in the presence of fireworks, race cars, and screaming Taylor Swift fans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prolonged exposure to noise above 85 decibels (dB)—the typical volume of a hair dryer—can cause permanent hearing damage, even for adults. Now imagine your child at a Fourth of July firework festival, where pyrotechnics displays can top 150 dB, and you understand why packing ear protection is just as crucial as sunscreen and snacks.

“Our ears are always on,” says Dr. Brian J. Fligor, a pediatric audiologist, author of Understanding Childhood Hearing Loss, and president of Tobias & Battite Hearing Wellness in Boston. “Hearing is crucial for our language development and navigation of the world. That’s why we must protect children’s hearing from birth.”

The good news? Today’s earmuffs—over-the-ear headsets that help block noise—are lightweight, comfortable, and stylish enough that most kids won’t put up a fight over wearing them. They’re also designed to lower the decibel level without muffling or distorting sound entirely. (The goal is volume reduction, not total silence.)

Dr. Fligor advises using protection any time an event is loud enough to startle a child or requires shouting in order to be heard. He also recommends it when riding ATVs, snowmobiles, or other powersport vehicles where engines are not particularly well-muffled. And while hearing protection is not necessary on commercial flights, he absolutely recommends muffs for smaller bush and prop planes, or when attending a jet flyover show. If you’re not sure how to gauge the noise risk in any given situation, there’s an app for that: Decibel X sound meter for iOS and Android offers a real-time frequency analyzer for spot checks.

We asked Dr. Fligor, a father of four, along with other travel-savvy parents about the muffs that work best for their kids and why. Below, the best kid-approved picks for the ultimate ear protection.

FAQ:

For Jo Piazza and Nick Aster, a camper van trip through the national parks of Colorado and Utah wasn’t just a summer escape—it was a way to reconnect with the adventures they loved pre-kids. “It was time for a trip out west,” Jo says. “We’d visited a lot of these national parks when we lived in San Francisco, but now it was about showing our kids—Charlie, 5, and Beatrix, 3—what makes these places so special.”

The couple, who live in Philadelphia and were expecting their third child at the time (Eliza, now born), mapped out a 10-day loop that started and ended in Denver. Along the way, they visited Rocky Mountain National Park, Steamboat Springs, Dinosaur National Monument, Moab, Arches, Canyonlands, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and Breckenridge. “It was a bit of an epic romp,” Jo laughs. Here’s how they spent their family vacation—and how much it cost.

Why rent a camper van?

Pregnant, outdoorsy, and realistic about the physical demands of camping with two small kids, Jo knew she needed more than a tent. “Sleeping on the ground just wasn’t going to cut it,” she says. “A van gave me a good place to sleep—and full disclosure, Nick often slept out in the tent with the kids to give me a bit of luxury.”

They rented their “cabin camper” through Outdoorsy—a fully tricked-out truck with a massive cap in the back that felt like a log cabin on wheels. “People commented on it everywhere we went,” Jo says. “We’d get high fives, people asking to take pictures. At one point, someone said, ‘Hey man, we saw you in Canyonlands two days ago! That thing is awesome.”

Planning a flexible route around national parks

Unlike their usual meticulously planned vacations, this one was intentionally open-ended. “We had a general loop in mind,” Jo explains. “We knew we wanted to hit Rocky Mountain right away since it’s so close to the airport, and we knew Charlie would go bananas for Dinosaur. But the rest we figured out as we went. That’s the beauty of traveling by van—you don’t need to lock in hotels every night.”

This flexibility came in handy during a July heatwave in Moab. “We broke up the camping with a stay at the super-unhip Marriott,” Jo says. “It had a fake red rock pool and a mini water park. It flew in the face of the National Park ethos, but with 100-degree heat and two little kids, we just leaned in. They loved it.”

Top highlights for parents and kids

The kids’ favorite moments weren’t always the ones Jo and Nick would’ve picked, but they rolled with it. “They’re still talking about the pool in Moab and the fossil quarry at Dinosaur National Monument,” Jo says. “Also, they were weirdly into how much attention the van got.”