Stress-free Travel With Your Children As summer rolls around, people plan for their family vacations. This is a time when you can take your children to new lands and explore new things. Family vacations can be fun and educational at the same time. Sometimes it can take hours before you get to a destination. It is during these travel hours when your children may be a challenge. By nature, children are impatient. So, you will have to think of ways to keep them content until you arrive at your destination.
Whether you are traveling by air or by land, your children will need a way to occupy themselves during the course of their travel. Pack a small activity bag for each child with the things that they like to do. Typical travel-friendly items are coloring books and crayons, drawing paper, small tubs of play dough, and anything you can think of that is small enough for your child to do at his seat. Avoid bringing anything that his small parts because these parts will undoubtedly fall on the ground and get lost, causing frustration.
Bring along a portable DVD player, headphones, and some movies for each child. This is a good way to occupy their attention for a couple of hours. Just allow them to watch one movie instead of letting them watch them all in one sitting. After the movie, direct their attention to other activities. Moving watching really does not stimulate the mind, so you want to be sure that they just do not sit there with their eyes glued to the screen.
Bring along your children’s favorite snacks. If your are flying, airlines do offer snacks, but the offering is not much and it is not offered frequently. It would better if you bring along snacks so your kids can have them whenever they get hungry. Hungry children are cranky children. A bit of their favorite munchies can do wonders in squelching any bad behavior before it develops.
Bring along your children’s favorite blanket, if it is small enough to bring. This is good for snuggling up for a nap if your child becomes tired. The familiarity of his own blanket offers comfort and can calm him down if he is agitated.
If you are traveling by car, try to direct your children’s attention to what they see outside. You may be passing by long stretches of farmland with farm animals. They will many trucks transporting different things. Give them a simple map that outlines where you are starting from and where you will end up. Have them trace the route as you travel along. This makes the whole travel experience more interesting.
Also, if you are driving, make lots of stops. Children cannot sit still for a very long time. Having frequent stops will help them work off some of that pent up energy.
If you plan ahead, your can have cut down on the stress of traveling with your children, regardless of how demanding they are. Remember these tips and enjoy your next family vacation.
