My Wife wrote a post on another blog and I thought that it would be a good thing to share for the upcoming holiday travel season....
Traveling with children can be hard, but if you are organized and can anticipate issues that may arise it does not need to be a dreaded event. Stay happy and be organized. Traveling may even be fun! When we travel as a family, we break the event down into three parts:
- Children Activities
- Children's Snacks
- Family Hygiene
Activities with children while traveling on vacation:
Activities, of course, depend on the age and attention span of the child. For those parents who have children that can read, you are on the easy road for traveling. For all of the other parents, I suggest crayons, washable markers, colored pencils with paper and coloring books or pictures that can be downloaded off the internet and printed for coloring. If you have a portable DVD or computer for movie watching, that is also great. Any hand held computer game that has earphones can be very helpful. I will often go to a craft store and pick up stickers and my all time favorite is Clay Magic by Crayola. It does not stick and does not fall apart into little pieces like play doh. Before you leave the house, let your child pick out some little plastic people or animals. This could be an activity that last for a long time as they can make stuff for them out of the Clay Magic. Other items are cards, portable small games and miniature battery operated items such as lite brite.
It is good to have several new items for when the boredom has reached its all time high. We like to wrap the new items. This can build excitement as well as eat some time off the clock as they unwrap.
One can only pack so much into a child's carry on bag so be selective. If your child does not color at home, he probably will not spend much time ding it on the plane either. When nothing seems to be working, we can pull out the next category.....
Snack time for the traveling child:
Snacks for children are very important and many airlines give little or nothing at all. This being the case, one must always be prepared. However, because you can only pack a limited amount, you may have to make food choices that would be different if you were driving or at home. These choices may include choices that are not always the healthiest, that take up less room and that don't need to be in a bag with something to keep it cold. I usually pack one small lunch bag with an ice pack to keep some small items that need to be kept cold such as cheese, squeeze yogurt, hard boiled eggs or cold pasta.
Any item that comes in a cylinder container such as Pringles potato chips or cookies are easy to pack. Lollipops and gum are good items to give your child on take off and landing to help with the ear issues. If you have a small baby, take off and landing is when you should be feeding the infant a bottle, again, to help with ear issues. When flying, other items that I may pack are cut up veggies and fruit. I try not to pack anything that can get squished or spill or stain clothing such as cheese doodles. Those orange fingers can get on everything.
This leads us to the final category, keeping your child, your child's clothing, the area in which they inhabit such as the car seat or airplane seat clean.
Family hygiene during vacation travel:
Baby wipes and hand sanitizer is a must. The hand sanitizers that are out now do not need any water and can keep your child's hands clean before eating, especially after they have been in the airport terminal. Baby wipes can help clean the car or airplane seat, baggage and the drop down airline table. My favorite item is the Tide Stain Stick or Clorox Bleach Pen. It is always good to have an extra plastic gab, moisturizing lotion and lip balm (which can be an activity on its own). A small container of tissues and a couple of band-aids can also be handy.
As with most things that pertain to children, traveling just needs to be broken down into smaller categories. From such categories one needs to prioritize and pack well. This means do not over pack because when it is over the weight limit, you may have to quickly throw away things, with no time to prioritize. Above all else, you need to have a good sense of humor, patience and gratitude that you can travel and create great memories for your family.
(The original can be found at taking family vacations)
Comments (8)Subscribe to CommentsComment