Traveling with toddlers – my top tips
As a Dub
married to a country man we spend a lot of time traveling up and down the
country visiting family, the journey time without children is about 4 hours
with them well…….that’s a whole other story!
My 3 month
old is still relatively easy to transport, I just need to make sure I have the
essentials with me – feeding, nappies and change of clothes. My 3 years old is a whole other ball
game. However I have learned a few
things over the last 3 years and have made the journey as painless as possible
for us all.
1 – Preparation
Since
becoming a mother I have developed a serious obsession with ziplock bags (ok I know!!!!). I get the Ikeas ones, my personal favourite!!
I have them organised into snacks, changes of clothes in case of toilet
accidents or travel sickness and little toys – my son absolutely adores little
toys which he role plays with. They are handy for traveling as they are very
portable.
Plan in
advance the stops, I like to give the 3 month old a good stretch out after 1.5
hours so I time this to coincide with lunch with the bigger man. We go to the same place all the time as we
know there are changing facilities, plenty space for kids and a decent lunch.
2- Distraction
A toddlers attention
span is short, well mine is anyway! So I take plenty of suitable toys which I give
to him over the journey, not all at once.
What I try to do is give him toys he hasn’t played with for a week or so
before hand, I get at least an hour out of the novelty factor! I store his toys in a roll up toiletries bag
( I got this in Dunnes but they are readily available) which I used while in
the Coombe having the boys for my own toiletries! It’s so handy, it rolls up
neatly and its clear pockets mean I can pick out toys handy for him. Another personal
favourite of my big man is sticker books so sometimes on longer journeys I will
let him pick one in the petrol station which he just loves. I on the other do not love scrapping Peppa Pig
or Fireman Sam stickers off the car seats! However, it does really help pass
some time. The key is to take the toys,
within reason which will get you some quiet time.
More
recently we have been playing games like I spy – but with colours or what has
become known in Mamma Fairys house “Storytime” where we each have to make up a
story based some details given by somebody else – my toddler loves this game,
he loves to hear his name mentioned in stories.
3- Prevention
Travel
sickness is really common and unfortunately my toddler seems to have developed
this in recent times. What has worked for us lately has been:
· Very light breakfast before we go –
no bread!
· Water only to drink – no milk and no
juice
· No chocolate under any
circumstances!
· Caldekids lolly – these have been
great, I let my toddler chill with one while I am getting ready. Never in the
car and always supervised.
Hopefully
you find these tips useful and if you have any other tips please do tweet or
facebook them to me.
Currently
writing this from a very wet and windy Donegal…..post coming up about the
beautiful South West Donegal for families.
Take care
~ Mamma F