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About 300 miles into an 800-mile road trip to Florida one summer, I decided to tell my 3-year-old daughter -- in a daze from watching hours of Dora the Explorer -- it was time to turn off the DVD and try to sleep. That's when the meltdown began.
It was 11 p.m., we'd been in the car seven hours (thanks to unexpected traffic jams and numerous pit stops) and we still had about 100 miles to go to the town where we had reserved a hotel room.
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But the 3-year-old's crying woke up the 1-year-old, and there was no choice but to stop. We drove from hotel to hotel until we finally found one with a vacant room -- a honeymoon suite with a king-size bed. On the bright side, the in-room hot tub and glow-in-the-dark planets on the ceiling were a big hit with my toddler.
Maybe you've been there, too -- not the cheesy hotel, but in a car or plane with small children, clinging to the last threads of your sanity. And you shudder at the thought of going through it again this holiday travel season. Or maybe you're planning to travel with baby for the first time this year and you're lying awake at night in terror at the thought.
Preparation is key
Your first step is to relax! If you're stressed, the kids will pick up on it and things will only go downhill. As a mother of two, I'll admit that no amount of planning can prevent every mishap or meltdown. But you can minimize the damage -- and even save money --if you are properly prepared. So here's an early gift from me to you: Ten things I've learned from traveling with small children.
Know the rules. Yes, you can take infant formula, breast milk, juice, canned, jarred, or processed baby food in your carry-on baggage and aboard your plane. The Transportation Security Administration lets you exceed the 3-ounce limit for these items as long as you declare you have them at the security check and present them in a clear, zip-top bag.
Just make sure all these items fit in your carry-on bag if your child is flying for free in your lap. Your kids aren't entitled to the standard carry-on allowance unless they have a ticket. On the plus side, car seats and strollers won't count toward the two-checked-bags limit. You're better off hanging on to those items, though, and checking them at the gate.
And be sure to have some sort of ID -- birth certificate or passport -- for your child. You might be asked for it at check-in.
Research, research, research. You are going into a war zone. You better know the terrain. For long-distance drives, use the Internet to find fun spots for your kids -- such as children's museums, petting zoos -- along the way. They need more than just a 10-minute pit stop to work off pent-up energy. Also find out which cities along your route have restaurants with play areas. And go online to chart your route's rest areas, which usually offer better changing facilities than questionable gas stations.
If you're flying, check the airport's Web site for a map of the building so you know where the family restrooms are and if there is a play area for kids.
And find out whether the airline will give you a loaner car seat if you check it and it doesn't make it to your destination. Many airlines will provide you one for free -- and deliver your car seat once it's located. But American Airlines, for example, doesn't provide loaners. United, on the other hand, will reimburse you if it misplaces your child restraint, doesn't have a loaner on hand and you have to buy a new one.
Don't pre-board -- team board. The airlines think they're doing you a favor by letting you jump the line with your small children. But you're just being forced to spend even more time trying to keep a squirming child calm in a seat.
So if there are two adults in your party, send one in first with the carry-on bags to secure a spot for them in the overhead bins. The other can hang back, run around with the kids then corral them into the plane after everyone has boarded.
On long flights, buy the baby a seat. You'll save a couple hundred dollars by holding a child younger than 2 on your lap. But if you can afford it, buy the extra ticket and put your child in a car seat to save your sanity on flights more than two hours. Make sure your car seat has printed on it: "This restraint is certified for use in motor vehicles and aircraft." If not, you might have to check it in as baggage, cautions the Federal Aviation Administration. Booster seats are not allowed.
POSTED BY: Cat Skyfire (November 15, 2007 12:53 AM)
I've got another suggestion. Make sure you, the adult, don't push your exhaustion levels too far. Yes, the kids will tire sooner, but if you get too tired, then it's easy to snap and become angry (or furious) because the child is being a child.
Don't be afraid to cut down on 'doing things' if it means you can relax and stay calm.
POSTED BY: PennStJeff (November 16, 2007 02:21 AM)
I have a tip that works well for parents traveling with an infant without a ticket. This method works best when traveling at off-peak days and times such as mid-week.
Select seats in one of the back rows of the plane and have one person take the window and another person take the aisle. The reason for this is that the last seats that are likely to be chosen on a plane are the lonely middle seats in the back. As long as the plane isn't fully booked, the odds are good you will have an entire row to yourself without paying for the third ticket. If the gamble doesn't work, its not that big of a deal as its never hard to convince a middle seat passenger to switch with your aisle or window seat.
Having the extra seat can make your flight extremely less stressful. This method has worked for us everytime and the bonus is that you may also find yourself sitting away from most of the other passengers up front leading to less stress that your crying baby is driving everyone nuts.
POSTED BY: PhotoDad (December 19, 2007 08:08 AM)
Pretty good advice overall. Forget about the dvd player unless you want a backseat full of vidiots. Use stimulating conversation instead. Tie this in to the places you stop to let the kids run around: civil war battlefields, stuff like that. For more tips on road tripping with kids, see the FamilyRoadTripper blog (google it).
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