Traveling with children is challenging. This should sound familiar…Are we there yet? I’m hungry! My tummy hurts! Mommyyyyy!!!!! Daddyyyyyy!!!!!!! More importantly, do you know how to NOT hear these whines? Do you know how to prevent the seat kicks to the passenger up front? Do you know what to pack? Let’s not forget that we don’t always travel via automobile. There are boats, trains, and more! What is already complex for the average adult to accomplish suddenly becomes a lot trickier when we are parenting at the same time.
Please share your expertise by posting a comment. We parents need to know.
When I travel with my son on an airplane, I always bring little treats that my 3-yr-old enjoys: carrots, pretzels, even gummy bears. I pull these out when I want him to settle down or when I need some time to pass. I also have an iPhone with his favorite television shows and educational games for him to play. I know some parents wouldn’t like that, but I do!!!! And so does everyone else on the plane!!
We’ve traveled quite a bit with our son who is now 3 and our daughter who is almost 4 months old. The best way to go is right after they are fed and before it’s their nap time, also bring a variety of snacks, a couple of toys and a bottle of water. Anytime I go anywhere, even to the grocery store I have the diaper bag and the “snack bag”. A baby or toddler that is rested, entertained and full is a happy well behaved kid!
I agree with Fiera, there are all kinds of great educational Apps for coloring, letter recognition, and numbers you can get for free on an Ipod touch or Iphone and they are a life saver. My 3 year old can easily navigate between games and I recently found an App called babysitter that has a variety of rattles, bells, a tambourine, and drum that play music and make noise when you shake them, the 4 month old loves it