Tips for Travelling with Children 7-Years-Old and Under

A wise man once said that if you want to know the true character of a person travel with him. Travelling is by no means easy. The stress of leaving home, the baggage, the queues at the airport and in this new world order, the security issues. It's as if you are not going on a vacation, you are going on a mission. Add a child or more than one child less than seven years of age into the equation and you can kiss your sanity goodbye.

It is true no matter how well organized you are there will be delays, impromptu disasters you never envisaged and the inevitable breakdowns as the kids struggle for attention and try to survive a long, grueling airplane, train, car or ship ride[FYI in the kids time zone 2 hours is 2 years].

How do kids travel? Well while every kid has his or her individual trait there is a rough guideline for most behaviors:

- Infants are easy, once in the air they will sleep the way through. Just make sure they are warm, fed and have a bottle or pacifier in their mouth during take- off and set-down to avoid ear pops.

- Toddlers and Preschoolers are tough. They lack the attention span, get easily distracted, have highs and lows and find it hard to sit still. Try to choose a flight that is on or around their bedtime and do not let them nap during the day. That way they will crash by the time the plane is in the air---hopefully.

- Kindergarten above is the best age for travel. They are mature enough to understand having to sit still, have the attention span and sense to sit and watch a movie, play games or simply look around. If you have kids of different ages have the older lot look after the young ones for a while, it will keep them both occupied.

There is only way you can go through this chaos and survive, organize.

1. Before you start the trip make a list of everything. [Do not leave a note with your memory that will quickly fly out of the window when the fruit of your loins screams down the airport as if he or she is being terrorized.]

2. Have one big backpack for the travel exclusively for kids stuff.

3. If one of your kids is in diapers keep two for every hour and two extra's for emergency situations. Kids somehow need to go to the bathroom more when they travel.

4. Always keep one extra pair of clothes for every child. That way any spills or sicknesses will not create panic.

5. Keep paper towels, and wet wipes for wiping anything you may need too.

6. Keep a variety of snacks in small portable snack packs so that you can take one small pack out whenever needed. Use Ziploc bags.

7. Since most airports do not allow drinks to be carried in the plane anymore try to keep dry formula if any of your kids are still on formula milk. That way you will get through security faster.

8. Keep empty bottles and sippers which can be filled with juice or water on the plane when needed.

9. Keep Calpol or ibubrufen with you and some first aid stuff like bandages and antiseptic cream. Keep them all in a Zipoloc bag.

10. Keep small toys, coloring books, game-boy, books and anything else that will keep your kids amused. Kids have an attention span of between 5-20 minutes when they are under seven years of age so keep things accordingly.

11. Keep a warm sweater or overall for each child as travel at times tends to get chilly and make sure their shoes and clothes are comfortable. Travel should be easy; fashion should be the least of your concerns at the moment.

12. If you are travelling by car make frequent stops and encourage the children to play "I Spy.." and other such games.

13. If you are traveling by train, keep the kids occupied by pointing to things they can see and play a game of guessing what comes next.

No matter what mode of travel you choose make sure everyone is comfortable and is having their needs met. Giving them chocolate on the road will not have any long term effects if it will keep them calm. Keep treats for them and they will be much better travelers. You can go back to the grind of healthy food when you are back at home.

Always keep your things in accessible pockets. That way you know where everything is and you do not have to rummage through your bag for anything. At the moment the worst thing about travelling is the security delays in the airport and /or train station. If you read up on rules and regulations on security tips before hand, you will save the time and hassle of having to empty your backpack and throw things away when your luggage is being checked in.