Traveling can be difficult enough as it is without the additional stress of taking young children along with you. With this being said, taking your kids away on vacation or for a travel experience will give them the adventure of a lifetime and it can also help greatly in teaching them new things.
The problem is that children get bored very easily and during a long travel day, this can happen with regularity either on the plane, in the airport or on any other mode of transport which you may be taking. In order to avoid your kids getting too bored, here are some tips to make both their’s and your life easier.
Entertainment
The key to alleviating your children’s boredom and making everyone’s lives easier is to ensure that you are armed to the teeth with entertainment that will keep them busy. Make sure that you have a wide range of games, films and TV shows downloaded to phones and tablets and that the devices are sufficiently charged. You should also make sure that you take toys and books along with you so that your kids will have plenty to keep them occupied during their journey.
Make a Game of it
If you prepare ahead of time, you can actually make a game of the whole travel experience in order to keep your kids excited during the traveling process. Plane spotting and other such games can really peak your child’s interest and they will keep them from being bored as they travel.
Time Frames
It is important that you break the traveling down into manageable time frames for your children. If you are traveling for 9 hours for example, then break it down into hour segments with the kids, encourage your children with rewards for good behavior during those hours and this should help them to better manage the lengthy travel experience.
Food
It is important that you feed your children the right way when they are traveling so as to avoid them becoming over excited. If you fill them up with sweets and treats then they are going to have sugar highs and lows afterwards, something which is not good for either you as a parent or indeed the children. Try and keep their food routine the same as it would be on a normal day to maintain your children’s mood.
Sleeping
If your kids sleep on the plane then it will help everyone involved and you should aim to tire the children out so that they can catch some shut eye whilst you are traveling. Manage your child’s sleep pattern the night before if you are flying during the day, and even if you have to keep them up a bit longer than usual, this will pay off greatly once you are up in the air.
What is your method of keeping the kids calm and still excited when you go traveling? If you have any special tips or tricks then feel free to share them with us in the comments section below.