Happy Bag

Suggestions for keeping your children happy en route and at your final destination:


Activity books/Sticker Books


Post it notes Paper, sticky tape, safety scissors


Finger puppets - great for games on the aircraft


Vinyl stickers that stick to car and aircraft window with leaving marks


Binoculars


Inexpensive sets of plastic figures (animals, soldiers etc) triple wrapped as surprises to be handed out every hour or so.


Magnetic letters and a metal tin


Travel size etch a sketch


Walkman and tapes - really good stories performed by talented story tellers are particularly entertaining for children 4+, good quality music tapes, nursery rhymes, sing a long songs etc are both great entertainment.


Playing cards and books


Inflatable ball for a game of catch, skipping rope etc to use as a park or playground on the way


Disposable cameras


Dolls


New books - a just learning to read child may enjoy books connected to letters and sounds.

Remember that once your children are three'ish they will want to decide for themselves which toys and books they would like to take. Always pack a few extra toys and books in your luggage as well as the chosen few.

Snacks and Drinks, take more than you think you'll need for emergencies and the inevitable delays.

Unhappy Bag

Avoid taking large toys as these will add to your packing problems; or noisy toys whether they be the "can we build it - yes we can" variety or those that require a lot of banging to operate, both for your sake and that of your fellow passengers; there is nothing more irritating than someone behind you constantly banging their seat back table on an aircraft.

Cuddlies

Dignified by psychologists with the name of 'transitional comfort objects', cuddlies are soft things that babies adopt and which come to stand in for people in their minds. A cuddly stays with your baby, like a piece of parental love, it is still there when he wakes up in the small hours and you are not there. Not all children adopt a cuddly, but for those who do, it takes on a very real emotional importance for him.

If your baby has adopted something in this way it will be his most important possession; the thing that must never be left in the park or thrown out in the rubbish, the one item that really must not be left behind when you go travelling.

If your child's cuddly is something simple like a gauze nappy, put two or three away for emergencies, and take a spare with you. If it were a soft toy, it would be wise to buy a second or register it with our cuddly emergency service. Such a second will not entirely prevent misery because it will not look or feel or smell quite the same as the one that has shared your baby's cot for months or years. But it will be very much better than nothing.

Making a home away from home is easy with essential oils if you take with you products you have been using at home; the aroma provides a comforting aura of familiarity and security when used in new surroundings. Things may be fine while they are going to the beach and enjoying all the new and wondrous things, but when Mum goes out - even just downstairs with baby listeners alerted - a small child can feel quite abandoned. At home alone in a familiar room a child hears the rest of the family talking, laughing moving about and can sleep perfectly well with all these noises. But left alone is a strange room with nothing except his furtive imagination and the banging of doors and the ominous whine of the lift, fears can become very real indeed.

Using familiar scents cannot stop the fears entirely but do help in an unexplained way to calm children at night, and perhaps their effectiveness is due to the theory of association.