Travel Bags For Kids
Painless Air Travel with Children- Tips for Parents
Planning Ahead
1. If there are several kids and two adults traveling together, consider booking seats in different rows. The kids can trade places mid-flight and enjoy some one-on-one time with each parent. If one child gets especially distracting to surrounding passengers, the child has somewhere else to go. Even ten rows may be enough soothe both the child’s and the passengers’ nerves.
2. Take advantage of the pre-boarding call for families by sending one adult ahead on the early boarding call to install safety seats, stash backpacks, and maybe stow a surprise in the kid’s seats. The remaining adult and children then board the plane at the very last moment. This way the kids have every last minute available to stretch their legs before they face the close quarters in their seats, and it may increase the anticipation and novelty of airplane travel.
3. If the travel schedule allows, large families with two adults may do well to actually fly separately – one adult and kid(s) a few hours preceding the other adult and kid(s). This works on the premise that one adult and one or two kids can maneuver more easily than two adults and two (or more) kids.
4. Think about your own comfort needs for the journey – wear comfortable, easy-care clothing and shoes built for walking, for example. Dark colors are also great for hiding stains – consider the traveling mom whose young son bonked his head at the airport and bled all over her shirt. Thankfully the boy was fine, but their flight was canceled and mom spent the next 24 hours in that shirt. It was navy blue, however, and no one noticed the stains.
5. The early departing adult can get curbside dropoff while the later departing parent can park the car and get shuttle transport to the terminal; the early departing parent can take all the checked luggage, then upon arrival can secure luggage and the rental car or shuttle schedules, so the later arriving parent can get easy curbside pickup.
6. Pack a light "fun" bag for the children. Kids as young as two may delight in having their own bag or backpack to carry through the trip – just be aware that it may lose appeal after a short while and will be carried by an adult, so plan accordingly. Let the child choose a special item or two to pack, but stash a surprise in the bag as well, and call on it if the child needs a distraction.
Pack Healthy Meals And/Or Snacks for the Journey
Bring healthy meals and snacks with you. It may be hard to believe, but airport and airline food has become more expensive, less diverse, and less healthy in the last several years. When flights are delayed, airport food options can quickly become scarce. Add that to the rigorous security restrictions for carrying liquids and gels, and travel delays with kids becomes daunting indeed. Again, planning for contingencies like delays can make the difference between “adventure” and “ordeal” on the travel day.
1. Find an insulated lunch box with a leakproof container to carry foods for your travel day. If you are flying, leave the ice pack at home or be prepared to surrender it to the security personnel, as it breaks the 3 oz rule. Instead, fill a bottle with ice cubes or a small container with water and freeze it ahead of time. It will work well as a coolant and when time comes to go through security the ice or water can be pitched. Otherwise, snacks should only be non-perishable.
2. Pack the lunchboxes before leaving home, but I don't let the kids open them until they are on the plane. This serves several purposes: it keeps the kids moving towards the ultimate goal (buckled in their seats), and they may just act like it's Christmas morning when they finally get to tear into their boxes and see what goodies you have stashed for them.
3. Be sure to fill the containers with goodies that will delight and sustain through a long day. Remember that “treat” doesn’t have to mean “unhealthy” and variety is essential. There are plenty of options: dried fruit, fresh fruit, salad greens and other sliced vegetables, crackers, pretzels, popcorn, hard cheeses that tolerate room temperature, jerky, smoked salmon, chocolate, granola (note that bars are less messy but are usually loaded with sugar). If you wish to add a sweet treat, chewy fruit snacks are often a favorite. In consideration of other travelers, avoid common allergens such as nuts.
4. Don’t forget that you will need snacks and distractions for the trip as well. Many of the same foods will appeal to adults, but if you can carve out the time before the trip to prepare, create a “build your own appetizers” selection by packing different flavors and varieties of crackers and sliced breads, mini breadsticks, crostini, blini, pita chips, or other “base”. Then pack small quantities of plain or flavored cream cheeses (use a small spoon for spreading), olives, pickles, pimentos, capers, scallions, smoked salmon, beef jerky or other dried meats, hummus, sliced fresh or lightly steamed vegetables, or whatever else pleases your palate. You will be the envy of your cabinmates.
5. After traversing the security gates but before boarding, fill a drink bottle with fresh water in the terminal. You may even find a food vendor willing to provide ice. Just remember when you open the bottle mid-flight that the change in cabin pressure may cause the bottle to spill, so keep a napkin handy.
Winter travel is a memory, but picnic season and summer travel season are right around the corner. With a little planning and foresight, “half the fun is getting there” may come back into favor after all.
About the Author
Nancy Myers is a mother of three and founder of Lunchsense, a line of vinyl free, lead free lunch boxes with BPA-free leak-proof food containers. Lunchsense lunch boxes are designed to help families pack healthy lunches with correct portions; the company was recently featured at the Green Festival in San Francisco, one of the nation's largest annual eco events. For more information visit, http://www.lunchsense.com.
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