By Jeni Weisiger
Over the river and through the woods … more like, over the long miles and through the tollbooths! Traveling with toddlers during this busy holiday season should be fun, not frightful!
As always, to make things easier, set up expectations before you leave; letting toddlers know they will be in the car for a long ride can help them prepare.
Beyond the simplicity of setting expectations, you can offer a smooth ride by preparing ahead of time.
- Try printing some maps of your trip for new and interesting coloring pages. This means you will need to also provide a tray for coloring upon.
- Make a short personal story for your child about their trip with pictures of things they might see along the way, and what they will see when they arrive: Grandma and Grandpa’s house, cousins, aunt, uncles, friends, etc. You could include holiday specific pictures as well according to your family traditions.
- Buy small toys, or if you think you could get away with it gather toys from home, and wrap them for opening along your trip. Wrap in newspaper for a free alternative to wrapping paper. Your toddler will love the activity of opening a “gift” and the toy or book will be “new” and hopefully entertain for good amount of time. (Be sure not to bring items that will drive you mad!)
- Look up and print off some holiday tunes to teach your toddler.
- If you’ve got them this is a good time to bring out holiday DVDs or CDs because your children probably haven’t seen them in a year!
If you have a toddler who is learning to use the potty, holiday travel can be a major challenge! A few tricks;
- Stop often — I mean OFTEN! nothing is worse than putting a child back into a wet seat or trying to change in a public bathroom, yuck!
- Put your toddler in a pair of thick center panties or undies, just in case!
- Bring along your potty seat from home to help your child feel comfortable in public restrooms, or bring the whole child’s potty and put it in the back of your vehicle so if there is need for a quick stop on the side of the road there will be somewhere to go.
- Of course remember plastic bags, potty wipes and disinfecting wipes!
Get that extra energy out! When you stop during your trip, make it worthwhile:
- Have a race, in a safe area, to the door of the rest stop.
- Play Simon says outside of the car and make sure to include lots of jumping, toe touching and silly word yelling.
- Most rest areas have maps or pictures of the area, check those out.
- Find a restaurant with an indoor play place.
Jeni Weisiger is a Developmental Specialist in the Early Intervention Program and teaches infant massage classes to parents and caregivers. She is new to the area and looking for ways to be involved with early childhood in Champaign County.