Tips That Helped Me Travel Smoothly With Children

“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer” – Anonymous

We as a family love travelling. Travelling helps us to cleanse and detox. It helps us to relax and make peace with our hectic lives. But the trickiest part of travelling is that, it requires a lot of planning and organizing specially when you are travelling with a child. We made our first international trip, when our child was a little over 1 year old. I being the mom, was all panicky and restless as I was still breastfeeding him. For this I researched and read a lot of articles on how to travel with children. It helped me immensely and we created wonderful memories in our first trip together.

In this article I shall put forth some important tips on how to travel freely with children (0-5 years old)  and which I myself followed. Hope the moms will like these:

2) Choose the flight timings wisely. Select a time where the children don’t have to compromise on their sleep as lack of sleep will make them irritated and cranky and the joy of traveling will be lessened.

3) Pack the child’s bag very well. Make sure to put in things like: baby wipes, diapers, pacifiers,  lots of extra clothes, warm blanket, suckable sweets or something which they can suck, during take off and landing as the air pressure might block their ears, extra bag to put the wet, used wipes, diapers and clothes.

4) Many airports will allow baby milk and baby food to be carried through security in containers over 100ml. So you can carry the baby food along. You can carry light food for the older children.

5) Make sure to pack the medicines well in advance. Though the child is hale and hearty, still the change in weather, place, food and daily routine makes the children fall ill sometimes. So instead of searching medicines in an unknown place, make sure to carry them along in case of emergency.

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6) I suggest you can carry a lightweight stroller along with you. However, a lot of it depends on where you’re going to. An all round good option is a lightweight stroller. They are easy to travel with and they can be used as a temporary bed for afternoon naps too, when you are out sightseeing. They are not too heavy and are also breathable and they can also be insulated with blankets and a rain cover, if required. So they are good on almost all kinds of terrain.

7) Most important is to carry the child’s favorite toy along. Children tend to get attached to their toys so make sure to carry them along. It will help you keep them engaged in long haul flights. The older children can carry their story books or colour books along apart from the toys.

8) Children above 2 years can be talked to about the destination you are going. Make them feel about the good things you are going to do, things you are going to see and eat. Make them curious so that they become prepared before they reach the place. It will help them in experiencing the trip well.

9) And most importantly keep yourself calm and composed. Sometimes travelling with children is really challenging and we tend to get a bit angry but keep in mind that we need to be calm and composed. We need to control our outrages and make the trip a memorable one for our children and ourselves. We should not scream in public places but show our maturity.

Our children are our future. We must nurture them in the best possible way. So keep moving and keep travelling to make beautiful memories!

Image is a still from the movie Ta Ra Rum Pum

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