Little Ones On The Go -Traveling With Children

August is quickly approaching and for many that means summer vacation and traveling with children.  Jackie and I have a bit of experience with this, both with our own children and now with our grandchildren.  So we have some ideas that might be helpful if you’re about to pack up and head for a fun and relaxing destination.
Jackie traveled frequently both as a child herself, and with her son Trevor when he was really little.  Her parents lived in Nassau, Bahamas back then, so taking Trevor to visit his grandparents involved flying.  She learned early on some things that made those flights she was taking better for her and better for Trevor too.  Now anyone who has ever had the experience of getting on an airplane with a young child, especially a baby, knows there can be challenges.  For a baby, the take off and landing of a flight can be uncomfortable if their little ears fill up, due to cabin pressure.  Jackie learned to give Trevor a bottle during the take off and landing to cause him to swallow which helped to avoid this problem and possible discomfort.  As he got older, she had more ideas for making their flights fun for Trevor and calm for her.

When I first started flying with my girls it was always an “event”.  On more than one occasion when they were very little, I flew alone with all three of them, ages 1, 3 and 5 years at the time.  They were great little travelers and made those trips much easier than they might have been.  I learned that especially when i was traveling by myself with 3 little ones dressing them alike made ir easier to keep track of them and meant other people noticed them and treated them kindly with big smiles which always helps.  Off we would head to the airport to go to San Antonio for extended visits with my brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew.  They were so excited to be going to see their cousins, they sat in their seats all dressed up alike with big smiles on their sweet little faces the whole way.  Oh what fun they thought it was to be given little snacks and drinks that mommy normally would never let them have, from kind and doting flight attendants.  They often had their rolls of coins in hand and were determined to arrive at our destination with all their money still in tact.

Randy and I took a short “trip”, more of an outing really, (about an hour away) with all the grandchildren this past weekend, to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus…..a great thing to do with your kids or grandkids if you’ve never done it.  The 3 older ones were sooooo excited as we left, anticipating all the great things that  they knew they were about to see, and the babies were excited because they love anything the older ones love. We take them every year but this was the first circus for the two youngest, Evangeline and Ashton, our baby girls.  I bought them all matching outfits and Randy and I were coordinated in our clothes as well.  All this to say we were NOT inconspicuous as we juggled 5 kids, popcorn, pizza, cotton candy, and licorce.  At one point I commented to Randy that we probably didn’t have to go to the circus, because we WERE the circus!  Though we’ve yet to take our grandchildren on an airplane trip, when we do, I’ll report back and let you know how that has gone:)

We would love to hear about any adventures in traveling that you, our Chums, take this summer as well.  Wherever you go and whomever it is with, may they be adventures filled with love, joy and abundant living!