Travel With Children: Ten Parenting Tips To Encourage Good Behaviour

Travel with children can be problematic for some families. Here are a few parenting tips to keep your child happier and more content as you get ready for your trip.

1) Try and keep the daily routine before the trip and as much as possible during a trip. This might be simple things like going to bed times or having a story before lights out or having morning and afternoon snack.

2) Make travel plans that accommodate your children and their needs for naps, food, stretching their legs, and toilet breaks etc. If you are travelling by plane try and make reservations at times that would be most suitable for them rather than you. Perhaps flying overnight and the child sleeping on the plane is better for your child or maybe leaving early in the morning when they are fresh and less grumpy would be better. On a long overseas flight planning a stopover can be helpful.

3) Make sure that you are spending about the same amount of time with your children as usual. It is easy with tavel plans looming to spend too much time packing and planning and phoning and not enough time being with your children.

4) Don’t lose patience with yourself, your partner or your children. No snapping or grumpy behaviour from you will help your children be calmer.

5) Arrive in time or early for flights and accommodation to avoid the stress of rushing. Your children will pick up the urgency and they can even degenerate into a state of panic. It also allows for orientation time.

6) Pack well in advance and make sure that the favourite pyjamas, game, book, teddy bear or other toy or blanket is added to the packing just before you leave.

7) Talk with your spouse about co-operating with each other over such issues as your children’s behaviour to keep such things as discipline consistent. It is too easy to let the usual expectations slide because you are not at home or let an issue pass because the circumstances are different. It is important to be consistent with praise as well as pulling the child up for poor behaviour.

8) Take along an emergency kit containing pens, pencils or crayons, paper, band-aids, pack of cards or other small toy depending on the age of the child, snack items, water in a sealed container, for young children – spare diaper and a few wipes or a spare pair of underpants and a bib.

9) Be prepared to be a hands-on parent, playing eye spy, asking and answering questions, telling stories, playing hand games or peek-a-boo, talking about life, the day or expectations for the trip. Expect to spend time even if you are tired entertaining your children and be creative with what you have on hand.

10) Prepare your children for the trip by discussing with them what will happen: make no promises, keep it general. For example; We will be packing a few days before hand, we will be leaving early in the morning and driving for a few hours to the airport. The airport is a big place where airplanes leave with people going all over the country and the world. Keep going like this – explain the city where you are going or the people you will be staying with. Make the description age appropriate. Simply alleviate stress with knowledge and understanding without raising too many expectations. Try to avoid such promises as “we will have an ice cream when we get there�, because you never know if ice-cream will be available.

Using these tips perhaps your trip will be a more pleasant one. Happy travelling.