Packing essentials - tips from a PET mentor

Not long ago, I found a parenting class at the local university and was introduced to the Gordon Method of parenting. I'll be posting a few articles from the lady who led the class. She's well-versed in these communication/ conflict resolution methods and unlike most, she walks the walk. So without further a-do..

.

Packing Essentials for Travelling with Children

By Judy Arnall

My husband and I enjoy holidays away from home. We have visited England and Ireland several times during the past 17 years, and we have just returned from a six-week trip to Singapore and Australia with our five children aged between 5 and 16.

We have traveled by airplane, car, ship and train. We have stayed with relatives, with friends, at hotels, at rental houses, at beach cabins, and in trailers and tents. We have learned the hard way about the challenges of travelling with children, including jet-lagged babies wide-awake at midnight, toddler tantrums on crowded airplanes, car-sick and home-sick children, and bored teens enduring an endless torment of art galleries and museums. From our experience, I have developed the following list of essentials for travelling with children.

· Small stuffed critters (stuffies): Youngsters (and older ones too, though they won’t admit it) appreciate a stuffy each, as a reminder of home, and as a pillow. Makes a strange bed more welcoming. Just make sure it’s not a special one because it could get lost.

· Entertainment technology: A handheld game console, Mp3 player, or portable movie player can be a lifesaver in the middle of the night for an exhausted parent trying to settle a wide-awake child. Or to distract bored children from fighting or climbing the drapes while you are chatting with relatives in their homes containing glass-sided cabinets of crystal and china. Or to make long flights shorter. Or to provide familiar music for homesick teens. Or even to sooth parents whose patience is ragged from endless “How much longer, are we there yet?”

· Batteries and chargers: You can never have too many batteries.

· Cheap and useful activity toys: Flashlight, roll of tape, pair of scissors, deck of cards, Rubik’s cube, tape measure, markers, pads of paper, dice, dictionary, ball of string and lump of playdough. Very versatile for keeping kids busy. Flashlights can be used to play ceiling tag at bedtime. The roll of tape is great for toddlers to pull off pieces and stick them anywhere. Toddlers also love tape measures, playdough and balls of string. Markers and pads of paper can be used by school-aged children, to draw paper dolls, animals and various scenes to play dolls with. Drawing, coloring and cutting out are all part of the fun of playing dolls.

· Plastic shovels and pails: Some of our best moments have been on a park or beach bench with glass of wine, while the children dig holes, make sand-castles, and nature soup, and collect rocks, shells, twigs, beetles and frogs.

· Digital camera: For teens and school-aged children

· Laptop computer: Laptop computers typically contain basic software such as Paint and solitaire, and most can play DVD movies. Useful for teens to make a journal, make a photo scrapbook of the trip, and catch up on e-mail with their friend’s back home. Many libraries and visitor centers have cheap Internet access.

· Pillowcases: The most versatile item for a trip. We try to find inexpensive accommodation, and often find ourselves short of pillows. A pillowcase can be stuffed with coats to make a huge pillow for the plane or for the hotel. They are easy to pack, lightweight, foldable and cheap. Here are some other uses for them:

Hotel comfort item – something from home that you can put over their pillows. Helps children deal with their homesickness when they see a familiar pillow.

Extra beach bag - for wet towels, garbage, food containers, toys, and clothes.

Bib- You need a safety pin or clothes pin to fasten.

Cape- for little boys and girls to present they are superheroes.

Spare pillow - Stuff with coats, jackets, hats and mitts for a nice BIG pillow on the plane or in the car. Keeps everything together in winter.

Picnic placemat – A clean cloth to put plates and cups on at the beach or picnic area.

Spare diaper change mat – Be sure to wash after!

Spare shopping bag – handy for drippy items because it’s easy to wash.

Laundry bag – for clean or dirty clothes.

Instant gift wrap – for a hostess gift.

Spare towel – for the beach or pool.

· Cheap lightweight sleeping bags: You only need inexpensive little summer-weight sleeping bags from outlets like Canadian Tire (unless you’re crossing Baffin Island by skidoo). About the size of a rolled-up beach towel, it can be spread to make an instant bed on or a sofa, or carpet, and can be used as a pillow in airplane or car.

· Lighter: You’d be surprised how much you’ll need a lighter when travelling. Try lighting a strange gas stove without one.

· Snacks: Always travel with a bag of non-spoiling snacks such as crackers, granola bars and boxed juice. Travel food is often expensive, and not always available.

· Wipes and roll of kitchen paper towels: Always useful.

· Large clear-zip up kitchen food bags: Perfect as wet swimsuit and dirty wash-bags, as food bags, and perfect containment for potentially messy things like toothpaste. You would be horrified how far shampoo can spread within your suitcase during depressurization.

· Hand sanitizer: Public washrooms usually do not provide soap.

Finally, always pack light. Don’t bring more than two outfits per child, and bring extra empty pack-flat travel bags for the souvenirs and clothes that you will inevitably accumulate as you travel. Bon voyage!

Judy Arnall is a professional international award-winning Parenting Speaker, and Trainer, Mom of five children, and author of the best-selling book, “Discipline Without Distress: 135 tools for raising caring, responsible children without time-out, spanking, punishment or bribery” and the new DVD, “Plugged-In Parenting: Connecting with the Digital Generation for Health, Safety and Love” www.professionalparenting.ca (403) 714-6766 jarnall@shaw.ca

Copyright permission granted for “reproduction without permission” of this article in whole or part, if the above credit is included in its entirety. Pictures added by You Get Well Soon.

Brought to you by You Get Well Soon

Travelling with Children - parenting advice from my mentor

I know that as the only parent in my local circle of friends that parenting discussions are lacking. It's nice to be able to talk about what's going on; concerns, etc. I found a parenting class a while back at the local university and was introduced to the Gordon Method. I'll be posting a few articles from the lady who led the class. She's well-versed in these parenting methods and unlike most, she walks the walk. So without further a-do...

Benefits of Travelling with Children

By Judy Arnall

We brought our two children (a toddler and a baby) to England and Ireland on our first family overseas trip in 1996. During that first trip, we were introduced to the travelling perils of sick infants on cars, trains, ships and aircraft, and jet-lag sleep schedule disruption, and the wonderful task of hauling cumbersome baby travel gear around. Since that trip, our family has grown to five children, and we have logged another six overseas trips. Our recent holiday was to Australia with our five children, ages 5 to 16, for six weeks. During our flight home, listening to a mother in front of me coping with a toddler tantrum, I reflected that it is easier in many ways to travel with older children. They can carry their own bags and they can immerse themselves in books or movies during long flights. But older children do have their own challenges, such as becoming downright uncooperative when facing situations that they don’t like, picking fights with each other when bored, and becoming just as expensive as adults when venues charge full fare for kids over 12.

Although it can be hard work for parents, children of all ages benefit immensely from travelling. Travel is a multi-sensory learning experience that is much richer than textbooks, videos or classrooms. In addition to the obvious academic facts that they absorb from visiting science centers, zoos, aquariums, art galleries, wildlife parks and museums (such as the quantity flow model demonstrating Pythagorean theorem at the Perth science center), children learn many important life-skills while travelling, such as these:

· Perspective: They learn that home is actually not that bad, compared to some of the rest of the world. Tripping over each other in a 500 square foot cabin helped us appreciate that we have a home to call our own.

· Group decisions: They learn that they must either provide positive leadership to the group, or must go along with group decisions. Not everyone can get their way even some of the time.

· Consideration: They learn that when we are guests of others, we must be considerate of their plans, their home and their possessions. They learn to ask permission, that they must limit noise and clutter, and cannot just raid the fridge. They also learn how to socialize with hosts.

· Adaptability: Things go wrong, such as missing sleeping bags, not enough pillows, unexpected weather, no transportation, lost mp3 players as well as dealing with clean laundry too wet to pack. Children learn to accept and/or make-do. Our motto when things went wrong while travelling was “Oh well”. Sometimes it was either laugh about it or cry about it!

· Problem solving: When adapting to new situations or circumstances, children learn how to solve problems. They can brainstorm options and help choose the best ones. Our 15-year-old and ten-year-old son got lost on a hiking trip. I was astounded at their problem-solving ability to find their way back to the camp, all the while not knowing what camp, city or state we were staying at in Australia.

· Different rules: Rules and courtesies we take for granted in our country are not the same in many other countries. For example, chewing gum is illegal in Singapore.

· Patience: Travel requires so much waiting around that children learn to be patient. They wait in long lines for check-in, for security, and for boarding. They wait for take-off, they wait for food, and they wait for the washroom. They wait for landing and more line-ups. It’s endless.

· Self-entertainment: Children learn how to cope with boredom from lack of media devices and electronic devices. When mp3 players, DVD players and laptops are not available for playtime, they get into sandcastle building, drawing, card games, board games, word games, scavenger hunts and good old-fashioned conversation.

· Socializing: They learn to be polite to relatives that they have never met before, and discover to their surprise that they find them likeable. They learn that strangers can be friends for travelers and it’s okay and enjoyable to strike up a conversation with them.

· Logistics: For older children that wish to get involved in trip planning, they learn useful skills such as how to book itineraries, rentals, and accommodations. They can learn how to acquire documentation such as passports, visas and consent letters. They learn the protocol for security at airports and museums. They also learn mapping, budgeting, and documentation (photos and journals) skills. They learn how to secure transportation and groceries.

· Tolerance: Travelling with family members means that for a few weeks or days, family members live in close proximity with each other full time. That means siblings constantly in each other’s faces. Children get very practiced at learning how to cope with different quirks, personalities and people’s feelings. They may discover a side of a sibling that they never noticed before and actually quite like.

With all these travel benefits, it’s no wonder that many families take several vacations a year together. Whether staying in a tent, trailer, cabin, cottage, hostel, hotel or visiting relatives, travel provides an experience of a lifetime for both parents and children. Guaranteed, it will never be boring. Have a fun and safe summer!

Judy Arnall is a professional international award-winning Parenting Speaker, and Trainer, Mom of five children, and author of the best-selling book, “Discipline Without Distress: 135 tools for raising caring, responsible children without time-out, spanking, punishment or bribery” and the new DVD, “Plugged-In Parenting: Connecting with the Digital Generation for Health, Safety and Love” www.professionalparenting.ca (403) 714-6766 jarnall@shaw.ca

Copyright permission granted for “reproduction without permission” of this article in whole or part, if the above credit is included in its entirety. Pictures added by You Get Well Soon.

Brought to you by You Get Well Soon