[Note I said “herding” not “hurting” :-) ] Truly, this is a heartbeat item, as is evidenced by the email I recently received from a faithful Brigada participant from Taiwan, who wrote, ” In my experience… when a small child has jet lag… EVERYONE has jet lag… no matter how much I *believe* that my kids aren’t awake at 3AM and want to go to the park and play… it doesn’t seem to make them sleepy at all.” LOL Well said, Scott. So how can we help kids make the most of their time in the air and/or on the road with us? Well books could be written, for sure, but we’ll just list 5 principles to get the juices stirring…
*** a) Keep ’em busy — As anyone who travels can tell you, you have to plan ahead so you’ll have appropriate activities, interesting games, familiar (but replaceable) toys and, best of all, cool snacks. Use your imagination. Think like a kid. Ask for their input before you ever leave to go there.
*** b) [For infants and toddlers], Take along a stroller — Even though it will seem like a hassle, a stroller will help you in several key ways. First, it’s “home base” for all your stuff. Second, it’s a home base for the *munchkin*. Third, it’s a protected “security zone”. And finally, it’s a roving sleeper-car. You probably get the point on all those.
*** c) [For infants], Get them an airline bed — Again, this takes advanced planning. Some airlines still let you use the portable beds that fasten to the wall of the bulkhead. Several others have apparently ceased that practice. But in its place, they’ve come up with other strategies. Call around. Find a kid-friendly airline that flies where you fly. If worse comes to worse, pay the 10% extra ticket price to book a *seat* for your infant, and just drag along a cheap car seat that you pick up at a yard sale. See “b” above.
*** d) Recruit a partner to help you care for the kids — On a recent trip to the Balkans, while accompanying a young couple headed to one of Team Expansion’s mission fields, I took a turn caring for their 8-month-old baby so they could get at least *some* sleep through the night. I walked laps around the plane. I rocked her, bounced her, and otherwise entertained her for at least a *while* so the family could snooze. Find someone who will go along and do the same for you — and more.
*** e) Finally, remember the power of some potent cough medicine. [grin] If your child has a cold or congestion, it’s especially important… and that cough medicine just might be the ticket to put them to sleep for hours. I’m not saying drug ’em and forget about ’em. But at the same time, if the medicine is appropriate, and if it happens to make them drowsy, *use* it. [grin]
Our kids traveled with us while we were all a bit younger. Now they are adults and have adult kids of their own. However, reading this bit of advise reminded me of the time we were returning from a two-year teaching assignment with SIL in Peru. While there, our son has procured a Woolly monkey. And, yes, he wanted to bring it home. Having been in captivity long enough, we were able to secure the proper papers. But how to get him home. The local dentist gave us a sedative that he said would last for at least half the trip. Poor Joshua didn’t know what hit him. Right to sleep. However, about half way through the trip, there was a stirring in the oversized lady’s purse at my wife’s feet. And before she could put her hand over the cover, Joshua was in her lap. Before she could push him back in the bag, the flight attendant saw him. We could have said, *Just an evolutionary through-back!* She thought he was so cute. Well, after some words of *discussion,* I had to carry this woman’s purse back to the lavatory and give Joshua his second dose. But this time he knew what was coming. I don’t think any of it got into his mouth. You should have heard the squealing! We took turns entertaining, not our child, but our son’s pet monkey for the rest of the night!
It’s amazing how long a roll of Scotch tape can entertain a toddler.
Make sure you are right about getting any cheap car seat at a garage
sale. I purchased a brandnew car seat, and it was not accepted.
They would not let me take it into the airline cabin. They have
specific requirements for car seats.
as missionaries we travel alot. we have 3 children and now that they are getting bigger it is not as much of an issue but what we often did when they were little was we would go to a dollar store (or an equavalent in our country of ministry) and buy a bunch of cheap “gifts” (toys, coloring books, etc.) and wrap them up. My wife would pack them into a seperate carry on bag and and determined intervals (based on the length of the trip) the children could unwrap a gift (assuming they had behaved well). This was a great way to keep them busy and get their minds off of “how much longer” as just as they had had eneough of the last present it was time for another. Mom and Dad were happy as well and we never felt like we were “spoiling” them as we never spent much and it make travel a time to look forward to…
buy cheap, small craft supplies. pipe cleaners, puff balls, gi joe knock offs, small frogs, snakes, small spools etc (stuff the kids may not have seen before). pull them out slowly as the going gets rough and see what your kid will do with them. See what you will do with them- you never know what they will become.
Skip liquid benadryl, buy the melt away tabs- they are a bit pricier but you don’t have the liquid to worry about with TSA and you don’t need a sticky messy spoon. The dose of a melt away is 1tsp.
Skip car seats on the plane cabin unless absolutely necessary. An airline seat rarely accomodates even the smallest regulation car seat and chances are the stewards will be a little uncertain as to how to help you with them. We couldn’t get ours down the aisle of the plane without massive manuevering.
We did a 30 hour travel time with a 18 month old and a 5 year old. Dum Dum lollipops work when they start screaming and won’t settle down. Small toys not all pulled out at once and definately have some snacks prepared. We swear by the car seat for our little one. Otherwise we would have been wrestling with him the whole time. Strollers are also a good thing for the airport moving.