Prepare For Holiday Travel With the Kids…Send Flooding info to England

November 11, 2009 Comment

Thanksgiving and Christmas often bring with them the opportunity to travel to see family and friends. This can be a time of dread for parents as they look forward to hours in the car or in airport waiting areas.Whether we travel by air, train or car, a trip with children is a challenge all the same. It seems a good time to share some “preparedness” tips to survival.

To some extent, the challenge of entertaining children while cooped up can translate to our family preparedness as well. If your family is evacuated – uprooted by a flood, hurricane, wildfire, or other calamity that puts them out of their home for a period of time – there will be some long hours to amuse children, as well as yourself.

So a trip over the river and through the woods is good time to practice basic concepts that are proven successful while traveling with children. Complete success, however, requires that time is taken to plan ahead, at least a little.

Be sure to pack snacks or meals, and drinks. When my grandchildren visit, we send them on their way back home with their own brown bag. Commercial snack packs are very expensive, so we have the kids make their own. I put out bread, crackers, cheese, peanut butter, jelly, carrot sticks, celery, pickles, raisins, nuts, lunch meats, salami, olives, grapes, bananas – whatever is healthy and handy from my food storage. Every child makes their own lunch to take along. Before placing their food in their bags we decorate the bag and add a juice box. Remember napkins, and always have some wet wipes in the car or your carry on luggage.

Armed with their brown bag, they are ready to snack without constantly asking mom and dad if it’s time to eat. Goodies like cookies and candy are for a parent to dole out as he or she sees fit. Be sure you also have a few plastic bags for the trash. Just before leaving, have everyone get their own water bottle, and grab a “sippy cup” for the wee ones who are too small to handle a water container. When the time comes, mom can then fill it with the contents of a juice box. Empty water bottles should be taklen through security at the airport and filled at a drinking fountain.

Before leaving home, children can each choose a favorite toy to take along. This should be size-appropriate – especially if traveling by air.

Remember comfort items like pillows, favorite blankets, story books, teddy bears, sunglasses and an easily accessible change of clothes just in case someone has an accident.

If you are traveling in an area where snow, fog and/or cold weather and cold winds are possible, be sure you also have warm blankets in the car just in case you get stuck. Of course these should already be in your trunk with your auto kit. You should always travel with one blanket per seat, wrapping up together contains body heat and helps you stay warm. Those in the front seats need their own. If you need to put chains on your tires, you may be stopped for a while due to winter road conditions, subject to traffic controls.

For those prone to motion sickness, take along Dramamine and basic medications for stomach upset and headaches. These are often available at gas stations, but very expensive when bought at a travel stop or airport.

If you have young children, make clean up easier at the end of the trip by placing a towel or sheet on the seats. When you reach your destination or stop for the night, carefully fold and shake it out. Return it to the seat, and clean-up is a breeze.

Now comes the case for bribes. Or shall we call them “incentives”? Reward good behavior. Bring along a roll or two of quarters. Determine ahead of time when you will hand out the coins, and use them liberally.

You can give your kids a quarter for each hour they don’t argue. At the end of the trip they will have their own money for snacks and souvenirs. You may have to increase that to more than a quarter, but that’s up to you.

Wrapped surprises are always popular. You’ll be amazed at the extra interest a little wrapping paper can lend to your travel strategies. Wrap a new toy or snack. Each time you stop, give the kids a gift to unwrap when you get back in the car. Don’t spend lots of money on this. Wrap gifts with pages from the Sunday comics section of the newspaper. Wrapped items may include one or two pieces of bite-size candy per person, a box of cookies, individual sized cold cereal, a new toy car or doll from a budget store – or even pages to color or crossword puzzles to solve, both of which can be created at many Internet sites.

Have a safe and fun trip with your family and make great memories of those travel times.

SEND LINKS TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN ENGLAND: With very severe flooding in England please forward the links to our flood post to everyone you know in Great Britain so they can use it or share it with those who are facing a horrific clean-up.

http://blog.totallyready.com/heavy-rains-could-mean-floodsprepare-now/11/13/

http://blog.totallyready.com/cleaning-up-after-a-flood/11/14/

http://blog.totallyready.com/cleaning-up-after-a-floodpart-2/11/17/