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Traveling With Kids

Keep a few wet washcloths in the glove box inside a plastic bag for wiping hands and faces.

Keep a few wet washcloths in the ice chest inside a plastic bag for cooling them down quickly. The cool cloth on the back of the neck and front of both wrists will lower the body temperature quickly.

Have several drinks on hand in the ice chest so you don't have to make so many stops. And, bring clean snacks with you. Clean snacks are things that don't make a lot of crumbs, like grapes or cheese cubes.

Use Their Energy Wisely

Keep kids happy and let them burn off excess energy while traveling. Let them jump rope while you gas up the car or stretch your legs.

Help kids be less bored on trips and pay attention to more scenery by having them play a game to see who can find the most animals or the name the most different trees.

Prevent Car Sickness

The last thing you want on a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa is for your little one to throw up. It goes on the seat, the car seat, the floor, and all over baby's new outfit. But, little ones are not old enough for medicines like Dramamine.

Simply put a wide rubber band on each of child's wrists. They should be placed three (of his) finger widths from the bottom of his hands - with two of his fingers fitting between the band and his wrist wrinkle. This is a pressure point that controls car sickness, so the rubber bands should be snug but not so tight that they cut off circulation. Or, you can buy Sea-Band for Travel Sickness, which is a ready-made pair, or the BioBand (only one is needed), which adjusts to any size.

Babies on a Plane

When an airplane takes off and lands, there is a change in pressure. This can cause pain in babies because their ear canals so narrower. Swallowing helps to "pop" our ears. Kids can chew gum for lots of swallowing. Babies can swallow during take-off and landing by nursing or sucking on a bottle or pacifier, lessening or even preventing ear pain.

Freeze Pains Away

Get a small washcloth wet, put it into a plastic bag, and put it in the freezer.

The frozen washcloth makes a great teether for babies. And, it will mold to the shape of an arm, leg or chin within a minute or so to ease pain when a child gets hurt.

You can even get little animals made out of terrycloth that will hold an ice cube for little boo-boos on toddlers and babies. A baby may not want a an icepack coming at his face, but he will probably allow one of the "Boo Boo Bunnies" to give him a kiss.

A toddler can usually pull a towel off the rod to dry his hands, but he can almost never reach to hang the towel back up. Simply hang a bath towel instead of a hand towel on his towel rod. Since the bath towel hangs twice as low as a hand towel, he does not have to pull it off the rod in the first place.

Energy Letdown

Kids usually do better in the classes they take first and right after lunch. Meals or snacks give their bodies and brains lots of energy, but only for a while. Sweets will give kids even more energy but will cause them to be even more sluggish and less able to concentrate when the energy burst wears off.

Free
Child ID Kit

Print out your own child identification kit for free. Print it once and make as many copies as you wish. Or, print several copies if you don't have access to a copier. Click on Free Child ID Kit to download the complete document and instructions. Print pages 1 and 3, put them back into the printer, then print pages 2 and 4, and staple the pages together.

Did You Know?

They say that you can tell how tall your child will be. Measure the height at 2 years old and multiply times 2. The average height of a male child at 24 months is 3 feet, indicating an average height of 6 feet as an adult.

 

The Hidden Germs

Kids get colds, and sometimes they get one cold after another. There are hidden germ farms in your home -- toys and stuffed animals.

Everything a sick child touches gets covered with germs, especially things that go into their mouths.

It is important to clean all the toys during a cold and afterwards. See how to clean stuffed animals on our Toys page. Plastic and rubber toys can be cleaned with soapy water or baking soda, or scrubbed with baking soda.

Using grapefruit seed extract will disinfect toys. Add 30 drops to a quart of water and spray or wipe on.

Homemade Face Paint

Kids can make their faces up like a clown or tiger, or with designs safely.

Mix 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of shortening (a solid like Crisco, not an oil) for white make-up. For colored makeup, put some into small bowls and add a drop or two of food coloring into each. Don't use plastic bowls or they may turn colors.

For Older Faces

For adults and older kids that want to join in the fun but not risk breakouts from shortening, try the cold cream recipe instead. Mix 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with 1 tablespoon of cold cream and 1 tablespoon of water for white make-up, and add food coloring as described above for colored make-up.

When your child has an earache, make your own "heating pad" to draw out the pain. Heat up a cup of raw rice grains (not the instant kind) in the microwave and pour them into a sock. Keep the sock shut with a rubber band. Test the sock to be sure it is not hot enough to burn. (Don't pour rice into a sock and then warm it in the microwave or the sock could burn.)