No two words paired together strike fear into the heart quite like “Travel” and “Children.” “Travel,” a word which once may have brought to mind images of steam engines, white gloves and candlelight, now, paired with small children, involves mismatched sippy cups, diaper mishaps and gut-wrenching exhaustion. And, Oh! Do I feel your pain. My extended, out-of-town family first knew my children primarily as “He’s Not Usually Like This” and “Please Don’t Make Eye Contact Until She’s Asleep.”
Despair not. There are things you can do to make it more enjoyable. Check out these tips:
Travel With Kids: http://www.travelwithyourkids.com/before-you-go/top-5-family-travel-tips
Flying With Kids - Travel Tips from Parents: http://www.flyingwithkids.com/travel_tips.htm
Travel With Your Kids: http://www.travelwithyourkids.com/
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) has put together tips, too! http://www.travelsense.org/tips/children.asp
If you plan to travel out of the country and you don’t immunize your children, it’s a good idea to check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site for recent outbreaks. Your child is much, much more likely to contract a communicable disease while traveling. Here are updated health alerts from the CDC: http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/destinationList.aspx
Here’s my two cents, as well:
Pack for yourself a fresh shirt. Some children, and yes, I do mean mine, have proven to get air sick, car sick, bus sick, seasick and even train sick. I have been thrown up on while riding in every conceivable conveyance with the possible exceptions of horse drawn sleigh and rickshaw.
Keep your travel to the minimum. Flying across the country to see family? Find a family-friendly hotel and have at least half of your must-sees come to you. You’ve just changed seven diapers at 35,000 feet. Cousin Joan can surely drive forty-five minutes to come hang out with exhausted you at the pool while baby naps on your chest.
Find your flexible parent points. Recognize that your children are in a strange place, with people they may not know or remember from the last trip, and they are more prone to homesickness and exhaustion that you. Let them watch cartoons, eat some of the wrong foods, and get louder than your at-home comfort level. The only things to not wobble on are opportunities for sleep and snuggle time.
Lighten up. While you may want to have them cling to you less, because you are there to see people, your children need you. You are their reassurance that all is well, if a little chaotic. Expect some regressive behaviors from them, some extra exasperation from you, some screw ups from your partner and cut everyone some slack. Find some pockets of time for your little family - enforce group naps, sneak off to a family movie together, go for a quiet drive. Don’t let all you need to do overshadow what you’d like to do.
I wish you all the best of luck this holiday season!
Posted on December 16th, 2007 by BarbaraCA
Filed under: Uncategorized
holistic medicine…
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