Travelling with a toddler can present more of a real challenge, you will need to plan on being quite actively involved in entertaining him - but it can be accomplished successfully with preparation and more than a fair share of vigilance.

Remember that your toddler's needs for physical movement and for reassurance are different from your baby's and from yours. Conduct your toddler through his daily life by foreseeing the rocks and steering around them, avoiding absolute orders that will be absolutely refused, leading and guiding him into behaving as you want him to behave because nothing has made him want to behave otherwise.

Toddlers enjoy the novelty of seeing new places and new things but get bored of having to sit still or sightsee for long periods instead of being able to run around and explore at their own energetic pace. Keep your plans simple - limit them to perhaps one morning activity a day and you'll find it much easier to make last minute adjustments if your toddler gets tired or just wants to spend the afternoon playing in the sand on the beach.

Your toddler's memory does not yet operate, as it will when he is older, also it's because your toddler cannot think ahead that he cannot wait a second for anything. Toddlers have their own definition of time and therefore, the pace of your travels will be at the mercy of your children. This is where so many outings can go wrong, when parents feel continually held back and children feel rushed.

Even the most outgoing child can feel anxious about getting to or being in a new place. During the planning stage involve your child as much as possible, spending time with him explaining what it will be like and what he can expect to see and hear.

To help your toddler adjust, plan to spend quiet times together, once your reach your destination. Make sure to bring along familiar items from home to make him feel as secure as possible.

This is a common but under rated problem in this age group. Your toddler is working extremely hard physically, emotionally and intellectually at home and even more so away from home. Like the rest of us, the toddler manages his body less and less well as he tires.

Physical tiredness, excitement and tension, often intermixed with some frustration and anxiety, can build up to a point when the toddler no longer knows he's tired, does not see how to stop and rest and cannot relax anyway. Toddlers need rescuing before reaching this point.

Don't assume that a child who is still rushing around is not tired; look at what he is doing and see whether he is finding it more difficult than he was finding it half and hour ago. i.e. most of the sand he dug went into his bucket, now it takes him ten minutes to fill that bucket; if he is he needs a rest.

Try to find some ways of giving your toddler both physical rest and relaxation from stress without actually putting him to bed. Drawing together, doing puzzles or reading aloud, activities that get your exhausted toddler off his feet.

Don't let your child wear ordinary socks without shoes in holiday accommodation that have hard floors i.e. marble. The combination can be dangerously slippery. Choose to take socks with non-slip sole attachments.

Canvas play shoes are fine provided they do not squash or chafe the feet and provided their fastening - lace or T-bar - keeps them correctly positioned so that the child's toes do not slide forward and crumple themselves.

Aqua or Beach shoes protect little feet from sun, sharp edges and slippery surfaces in or out of the water both travelling and back at home.

Outer ear infections are more common in the summer when children swim. Sometimes water - which in some swimming pools, particularly in warm countries, may not be perfectly free of infection - can lead to sogginess, inflammation, and infection of the skin of the ear canal, the pain tends to be different to that of a middle ear infection, and it usually hurts if you tug gently on the ear. The area around the ear can sometimes be slightly tender and the opening of the ear canal may well be swollen and there is likely to be a greeny, white or yellow discharge.

Children who have previously suffered from ear infections should use Aqua earplugs when swimming. It is also a good idea to rinse children's ears with cooled boiled water after swimming in the sea or pool.

It is always best to make a mental note of what your child is wearing and dress him in bright colours so that he stands out in a crowd. When labelling children's clothes or rucksacks etc. always put the nametags on the inside so that a stranger cannot pretend to know your child by calling out his name.

It is important to decide what kind of danger you are trying to avert before you try to decide which if any gadget might help.

When travelling your toddler will be exposed to many possible dangers, both at home and overseas. Firstly there is the danger of a child toddling or tumbling into the road or under a vehicle in a car park. Secondly there is the danger of him getting separated from you and lost or even abducted. Radio-Beepers are not intended to protect children from road accidents and probably would not protect a young child against getting separated in a crowd.

Tying a toddler to his accompanying adult helps avert both kinds of danger. Toddlers are certainly safer and more comfortable with a harness and walking reins. If a tiny child gets even one step away from you in a busy area, a wrist strap that joins the two of you is hard to see. If somebody tries to walk between you, he will trip over the strap himself and certainly bring the toddler down. It is even possible that a toddler who slipped his fathers hand, but was supposedly still safely held by his wrist strap, could try to pass the other side of a bollard and be jerked off his feet. Wearing a , the toddler moves just ahead of the adult rather than out to the side. The adult can see the child and there is no apparent space between them for anyone else to try and move into.

Furthermore, if the harness is properly adjusted, those reins will save, rather than cause falls. If your toddler trips, you can save him by tightening the reins. If he suddenly goes on strike about walking and sits down somewhere dangerous, you can actually lift him to his feet and to safety; the harness will keep him upright.

Even if he is kept safe, though it would be sad if walking through a forest of adult knees and with his nose on the level with a thousand exhaust pipes, really made up most of your toddler's outings. He needs to explore a reasonably clean and sometimes natural environment at his own pace and to come and go freely rather than being forced, however, kindly to keep moving at yours. In fact even if he begs to be allowed to walk from the beginning it may be better to keep him in his buggy or backpack carrier while you transport him as rapidly as possible to the freedom of more child-centered places.

Riding on buses and trains is always popular and watching them at terminals is free. Shopping malls can seem like fairyland to a toddler, especially when nobody is even trying to accomplish useful shopping but only to have fun. They are warm, bright and full of people and fascinating objects and the expedition can finish with a ride up the escalators and down in the lifts. Museums and art galleries are often empty on weekdays and they can give your child a quarter of a mile of warm carpeted space and his escort some chance to look at the exhibits. He may even surprise you by wanting to look too.