Travelling with children on long flights may seem daunting, but it’s just a matter of planning well to reduce (or perhaps even avoid) the overall stress of the family.
5 tips for travelling with children
- Explain to the child what will happen
- Bring food and accessories
- Take your home entertainment kit
- have a surprise up your sleeve
- prepare a bribe
1. Explain to the child what will happen
Guys, this tip seems obvious, but many times we make the mistake of simply not sitting down and telling us what will happen on that trip.
Nobody likes to be taken by surprise right?
It helps a lot to explain in order: we are going to take a taxi to the airport, go to the counter to check our bags, go through immigration, this and that. Tell a really cool story! Enjoy and research together about the destination you will be visiting.
My daughter (when she was little) once cried because we checked her bags and she didn’t want to be separated from them. My mistake in not explaining before – could have avoided stress.
2. Bring food and accessories
I always fill my backpack with lots of food to travel with the kids.
Nobody can stand a hungry child, not even herself? So go for the lunch box. I’ve already brought grapes, cucumbers (yes you read that right, cucumbers), biscuits, fruit purees, fruits, pasta, bean soup, nuts and so on. And look, these are the things that I remembered here in my head, if I think about it with care, I remember more options.
In addition to the food, you have to bring a spoon, napkins or hand/mouth wipes and a bib for the babies. An accessory I won’t let go of is this Thermos lunch box. Keeps food super hot. On a very long trip, I also took some frozen food inside my Tupperware to warm up at the airport.
But ATTENTION, if it is an international flight, never carry food with you to immigrate in the country of arrival. If there’s anything left, leave it behind on the aircraft.
3. Take your home entertainment kit
Don’t just rely on inflight entertainment, sometimes you don’t even have it?
Things I’ve already taken to play/entertain on the flight: books, colouring books, sticker books, modelling clay and the stuffed animal to sleep.
At home, screens are limited; but on planes, this rule goes out the window. Before leaving, download several drawings on your cell phone.
4. Have little surprises up your sleeve
Carry some NEW stuff to surprise and hold your child’s attention. Things like: colouring book, book or small toy.
These items are strategic. When you need the child to be quiet and focused for a while. I particularly love using this strategy when we sit in a restaurant that we want to enjoy, not eat and run away.
But it has to be a NEW item and used sparingly, if it’s not a shot in the foot, the child will expect a new treat all the time.
5. Prepare a bribe
That’s right people, bribes in good old Portuguese. But if you want to ease the guilt, you can call it “award” or “incentive” 😝
When all of the above techniques fail, you say: then sit down and I’ll give you an M&M. (Confetti is good because it’s small and takes a little longer to eat).
