Sunday, November 13, 2005 9:57 PM CST
Knowledgeable grown-ups offer tips for road trips
By KRISTA LEWIN, Staff Writer
MATTOON -- Traveling is hectic, but the challenges can really take off when children are coming along for the ride.
Add the holidays into the mix and the trip can be more than a little bumpy. Planning ahead and trying to anticipate the needs of children can make for some smooth sailing.
Family members need to be realistic about children’s endurance when they are planning a trip, said Frances Murphy, professor of Family and Consumer Sciences at Eastern Illinois University. Families sometimes try to squeeze in a lot of activities and they may overestimate what children can do, Murphy said.
When children are outside of their environment, they may have challenges sitting still or sleeping in a strange bed or being expected to learn to play in a place that is not set up for children, such as a grandparent’s house, Murphy said.
“Those can all be unrealistic expectations,” Murphy said.
When children are tired, they probably need a nap and an adult needs to address that and stay with the child, Murphy said.
Meal time can also be challenging because the dinner may not be ready when the child is hungry, Murphy said. Feed the kids when they get hungry, she advised.
“If kids like hot dogs and they don’t like filet mignon, then give them a hot dog,” said Murphy. “Everyone wants them to eat, but if a big fuss is made, it makes it more difficult and creates more stress. Thanksgiving dinner is not the time to set policy.”
Whether the family is traveling by car or airplane, children need to be entertained because they aren’t used to sitting still that long.
Parents Mark and Sharon Lewis of Mattoon traveled by plane when they took their children to Disney World.
“It is the only way to travel when there are young children involved,” Mrs. Lewis said. “It is much easier to satisfy a small child in a shorter amount of time.”
Plane travel can be quick and convenient option, but Jackie Tucker, manager at Cross County Travel, said families should ask travel agents for as direct a route as possible.
“And be sure to check in a good hour and half to two hours prior to boarding,” said Tucker.
Try to find a flight with a reasonable travel time like midday instead of a 6 a.m. departure time when travelers have to get up at 3 a.m. to be at the airport, Tucker said. It is difficult enough for adults at that time, but think how challenging that would be for children, she said.
Mikki Meadows, assistant chairman, family and consumer sciences, EIU, reminds parents to bring their children something to eat or chew because the pressure in an airplane cabin sometimes makes children’s ears pop. For babies, bring pacifier or a bottle and buy an extra plane seat for the car seat, she said.
Usually airlines have apple juice and water, but it’s very small portions, so families need to bring their child’s favorite foods or snacks, Meadows said.
“Bring portable CD players and DVD players with headphones whether traveling in car or plane,” said Anne Wagner of Mattoon, who travels with her children and has learned through the years that having a pre-planned travel kit for children is essential. “Buy them new books, coloring books and puzzles, but don’t give it to them until the trip begins.”
Wagner said the best advice for families is to confirm travel plans and then reconfirm them, but don’t stress out if things go awry.
“We once had a problem with a rental car company that said we couldn’t use a debit card to rent the car,” Wagner said. “During the planning of the trip, a company employee had told me that we could. There I was with three kids and the employees at the rental car company suggested I take a taxi from Fort Myers, Fla., to Naples, Fla. Well that wasn’t going to work, so we had to pay cash up front.”
Grandparent Sharyl King of Mattoon said she and her husband enjoy traveling by car with her grandchildren and showing them new things they haven’t seen before.
“We take a lot of breaks when we travel by car,” King said. “You have to do that. We bring the kids card games, crayons, paper, and they each have their own clipboard to write on.”
She added it is also important to find hotels with pools because swimming helps children work out the kinks in their muscles from traveling and it relaxes them. They are ready for bed after swimming, she said.
King said grown-ups should expect the unexpected when traveling with children, but learn from those experiences, such as not packing markers because sometimes the colors of the rainbow end up on the car seats.
Try to reward children with visits to their favorite activities, but if they are too passionate about things such as trains, it’s wise to take a different track.
“When our 10-year-old grandson was 3, we went to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and he loves trains and they have a train store,” King recalled. “We went into the train store and it had a Thomas the Tank train set up. We let him play with it and then we were ready to leave.”
King said the youngster didn’t want to leave, though, so they had to pick him up screaming and put him in his stroller. He calmed down and they went into a restaurant and he started crying again, King said.
For the next couple of years, trains were not on the travel itinerary, King said.
But now their grandson is 10 and he still likes trains, so King and her husband and grandson take Amtrak to Chicago.
The Kings hope to take their grandchildren to see the Grand Canyon.
“My husband and I went there and thought it was really neat and now we want to take the grandkids there,” King said.
Contact Krista Lewin at klewin@jg-tc.com or 238-6858.
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Stephen wrote on Jul 17, 2006 8:22 AM: