Teaching your child to be a confidant traveller

Recently, a question was asked of me, when did we first start travelling with children?  This question was prompted by our son’s experience travelling with their one year old.  A five-hour trip to Maine took nine hours due to frequent stops as the child was fussing. Similarly in August, a 6 hour trip from the Okanagan Valley to Calgary turned into a 12 hour trip.  Certainly safety was an issue after travelling  that length of time.  Furthermore, nothing makes my blood boil more than hearing that things are so different now and we just don’t understand!  

On reflection, I realised that my husband and I had been across Canada by car 5 times in one year with two children under 3 and on the first trip the youngest was still breast feeding.    The following year, when my husband was in Iran and I lived in Northern Manitoba with my Mom, I would frequently pack up the car and drive to Winnipeg four hours away with the two small boys to visit the Zoo and their little cousins.  So just how did we survive these long trips with very young children?

As parents, we too were very concerned with safety!  We did not let the children out of their car seats and seat belts once the car was in motion. We too planned stops around feeding, changing diapers and potty training. As the children grew older, these stops were also planned around fun activities, such as play in playgrounds, dip on a beach, attending a fish fry or PowWow!

Involvement of children even very young children, in planning for the trip was most beneficial.  New sunglasses, rubber boots, beach toys, umbrella, flashlight, sun suit added to the excitement of the trip!  Sewing that extra large net using a metal clothes hanger for catching minnows or making a fishing rod out of a special found branch added to the anticipation of the trip!

Sewing a colourful organiser for each child to hang on the back of the front seats and filled with age appropriate toys, books and crayons.

Having handy a stock of surprise items of age appropriate toys, books, crayons, action figures that were pulled out as the trip advanced especially at any lags in the trip, i.e. road construction.

A great idea was a foldable tray that fit onto the car seat.  These trays much like those in a plane were great for meal times and play.

Timing was a big factor as we would drive early in the morning, be on the road by 7 am and then stop for breakfast at 9 am. The kids would play as we ate our breakfast.  Most of our stops would be picnic areas even in the winter as sitting in a restaurant was just not relaxing for any of us.  The children would then usually eat breakfast on the road in the car.  Again lunchtime break was play time for the children as we ate.

Although, our trips covered long distances, we planned each driving day to end at mid afternoon allowing for setting up at the campsite, plenty of beach time, then supper with bonfire time. Chocolate milk with marshmallows for cold weather or s’mores or popcorn along with the routine bed rituals to end the evening !  A rest day was always planned after two or three driving days, although a rainy day did become a driving day! 

Books and music played a big part while driving. Many times and hours, I would spend sitting between the children to read old favourites or a new book.

Old favourite cassette tapes such as those by Raffi, Penner along with those from the public library were played and singsongs were great fun for all of us. 

Car games were also played like I spy, counting semi trailers or cars. Most of these were developed based the each child’s interest.

 A hamper was filled with quick snacks, yoghurt and fruit and within quick reach. Breakfast cereals that came in individual serving boxes could be opened to become a bowl were handy for breakfast but also as a snack.

Most importantly we enjoyed travelling and travel days were just as much fun as the rest day.  Even when on one of our holidays, the camper tires blew five times on our holiday to the Maritimes, we still made this a fun experience and made good use of the time it took to repair the camper alignment.  We spent a great afternoon on an old CPR locomotive run by retired railway employees in Hillsborough, N B rather than sit at the garage.

Yes, we would always laugh that on a long trip, it would take a day to develop the rhythm of travelling as it would to reorganise the packing in the car and camper.

 As parents, travel was as much fun as rest days for us and the children would pick up on this!  

Boudain asks?

Foodies: What does it mean to cook food well?http://bourdainmediumraw.com/

Boudain 's favorite answer will be published in his book!  Wow..  

Tour of Paris with David Lebovitz!

Raspberry sorbet in Paris

Watch this delight video as  Anne Ditmeyer of Prêt à Voyager, hits the market in Paris and then makes a shorbet with David .

AGLIO, OLIO & PEPERONCINO italian culinary adventures

Check out this Blog.. It is wonderful and so makes me want to go back to Italy- soon!!!!.. I understand an acquaintance is returning for 6 months in Sept to study Italian.. Oh how I envy her!

 Aglio, oli and Peperoncino is also on facebook..and she does answer any emails! her last blog was on

Smile and say "formaggio!"

Ciao

2007- Getting ready for Christmas

It Should Happen Down at the Zoo

“Where’s Rick Steves when you need him” asks Bronwyn Eyre, a columnist with the Saskatoon Star Phoenix on her recent trip to Drumheller’s Royal Tyrell Museum and Zoo.   Although she was armed with the “standard issue floor guide”, she found them unsuitable as well as some of the lights in the displays did not work. Then she got “half –lost” looking for the “museum’s rarest exhibit, Lords of land” and found this exhibit most ‘disorientating “ as needed “snappy – readily accessible details” instead of “bill-board –inscribed pensees by Charles Darwin. On through a tunnel past” coiling water”, which she felt needed some explanation and on to a dark room with a “transparent floor ‘to observe “fake sea life”. However, “loud muffed voice-feed” drowned out her voice and “interactive TV monitors” were not helpful.

Similarly at Calgary Zoo, lack of information on the animals, especially their habitat, adjustment to the zoo,” etc” was lacking in her opinion. Although she did see telephone type guides, she found these “notoriously confusing” and they ‘were picked- up by kids, at any rate - only to be promptly hung up again.”   Again, the writer longed for a “Rick Steves-like children’s guides” at the zoo.

As a former Regina resident, I quickly dismissed Bronwyn’s comments as another disgruntled Saskatooner, thinking, “here they go again!” Then I thought “wait a minute, I’m a Calgarian now”, but her article stayed in my mind as I tried to figure out exactly what her point was!

Yes, travel guides have their place while travelling; however I find them more a distraction. It’s not to say I don’t do the research on the culture and life style of a country, a long with health issues, personal security and currency for one’s safety and enjoyment of the country.  Yes, I spend hours familiarising myself with a country before visiting but to be slave to a guidebook takes away from responding to one’s surrounding, the people and the moment! That is the true experience of travel!

Some of my disappointing moments were seeing the Mona Lisa and the Taj Mahal for the first time, not because they were not beautiful but there was a sense of knowing that took away the sense of discovery. Coming upon the beautiful red and white marble Hindu temple in New Delhi was sheer joy and most exciting!

More exciting to me is speaking to locals in any country to discover local eateries, markets, wineries or landmarks.

Furthermore, in the writer’s opinion, Rick Steves guidebooks are so much better written that she found her self reading parts out loud so others with poorly written guidebooks could also benefit from her book.  To illustrate her point, she referred to Steves guidebook on Madonna and Child by Giotto in Florence’s Uffizi Gallery, Rick wrote, “the real triumph is Mary” as behind her robe she had a “real live body- her knees and breast are especially prominent.”  By prominent or drawing attention, does this meaning that since Mary’s knees and breast were huge, it is a real live body!!  Two other thoughts come to mind, does one really need a guide book to recognise that a painting or statue is in proportion.  Furthermore, do others really enjoy hearing other’s reading out loud from their guidebook?  Certainly she did not like loud muffled voices in the Museum.  On another point she assumes everyone around her understands English and lacks knowledge!  Art students spend many hours familiarising them self with the art.

But I digress!  After establishing her credibility as a world traveller and user of travel guides especially Rick Steves, she describes her frustration in her visits which should have been such a learning experience.  She suggests that due to this lack of information at the museum and the zoo for her 5 year old son, the highlight of both places was the playroom! 

In reading her article, I wondered how much of her frustration was transferred to her young son and hinder his learning experience.  

She suggests the need for “Rick Steves- like children’s guides” to make it a true learning experience.  However, freedom to play in the play zone without adult input, any travel guidebook or telephone guide information should suggest to this Mom that when her 5 year old was allowed to respond to his surrounding  freely in the play zone, this was a true learning experience for him.  For her 5 year old son, this was not an evaluation of the museum or the zoo shortcoming as she may have seen them, but a true experience of learning through play.  

The Picture is of a 3 year old who is responding in terror to the “real live body” statue without the aid of a Rick Steves guidebooks.