Travelling With Kids Stress-Free

Have you ever been in a situation where you got to travel alone with your children especially in a plane? The children I mean here include babies and toddlers.

If you have been in such a situation, you might know how difficult and tiresome the whole journey would be for you whereas others in the plane would either be sleeping or have fun watching movies. I have faced similar situations wherein, I learnt few basic tips which I guess would help mums out here looking for the same.

• Choose a comfortable seat: A Mom travelling with kids should choose a seat that is comfortable for them. A seat few steps near a toilet would help in case of emergencies like toileting or vomiting especially for young children who are a little fuzzy. Also a window seat would help the kids stay safe in one place without seeking attention from nearby passengers. The Mom can take the aisle seat and by doing so she can get up for her own necessities when the kids are asleep. Always keep the kids in the seat with their seat belt tied.

• Necessity packing: This is very crucial for young ones especially babies and kids. Pack a separate kid’s bag with their feeding bottle, spoons, food, nappies and some tissues so that you can have them whenever you need them during your journey. It is also advisable to carry some plastic covers for the dirty nappies (until you carry it to the toilet), sudden vomiting or stomach upsets in any. And moreover, a spare cloth/dress for your kids will be good.

• Keep them entertained: Most planes will give kits for the kids to keep them entertained. But it is always preferable to carry some crayons, papers, picture books, coloring books and toys that your kids love to play. For older kids, a story book, puzzle books or games (from your mobile phone that’s in Airplane mode on) would keep them entertained.

• Sleeping Pattern: Lucky are those who travel on their children’s sleeping time (like during the night). But unfortunately most of the time it is not the case. So, often I try to keep my kids awake in the car which takes an hour or so to reach the airport and even few more hours on the plane watching us fly high. This is because the children get bored and stressed only when they come to know that the journey is long with nothing interesting to see. So keep them awake before take-off (even when travelling at late or early hours) and let them enjoy being in a different environment watching passers-by and shops on the way. By keeping them awake for a few hours without having short naps in between will make them sleep better during a long journey.

• Food: It always helps to eat lower than normal for the children. By eating less (I’m not talking about starving), it helps them to reduce their walks to and fro to the toilets and for babies having restlessness due to heavy and smelly nappies. Instead, give them ample water or juice which some aircraft allows (or get/buy them when you inside the plane) along with some food until you reach your place works much better.

• On final words, choose your aircraft properly. All your entire planning depends upon the type of aircraft you choose. Some low budget aircraft can delay the time of departure and sometimes don’t provide you foods that you need. Some might have a little turbulence on their way too. Always make sure you get the aircraft right when you are travelling with kids.

Uma Maheswari Anandane is a mother of two kids, an Engineer by Education and a poet by passion. She pampers her thoughts through blogging at MomScribe, Rhythmus and Pondicherry Wiki. Sometimes, she goes to any extent to know about the impossible reading about stars and fourth dimensions to quench her curious mind. She had the privilege to author two eBooks on poetry, one at amazon and the other making itself to big portals like iTunes, Sony and Barnes &Nobles. Whenever time permits, she also writes articles for websites and other small scale magazines.