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WWSD?

This is an attempt at a series of things that I think you might face with your offspring whatever age they are at. Mine is currently 2 1/2. I am looking at calling it ‘What Would She Do?’ After my son turned 2, I started getting a little confident about traveling with him and taking him to places. No fault of his, he is a great kid. Very flexible and easy going but like most new moms, I constantly worried about whether any external factors would cause him discomfort right from the availability of food, weather, place, people, etc. I started getting a little bold and my first steps to that was to do my 24hr journey with him to India. I had zero cabin strollers except for my backpack which was stuffed with books, games, electronics, & his food.

This post is more for moms like me that are keen on getting started on traveling around with their toddler but are nervous about what to take along with them and what not to. Here are a few things that really helped me through my 24hr journey:

- Activity books/kits: I know it depends on the child’s interest levels as well but if you are somebody that tries to minimize screen time for your toddler then this is your best bet. You find a ton of them here. I got most of mine from my mom in India. These are a lot of fun for toddlers. Its basically just coloring books, books with stickers in patterns or objects. My son managed to spend a good 4 hrs on these books which is a good chunk of your time. Surprisingly, i don’t see a lot of parents using this option. Its usually the ipad or phone that they give away. Don’t get me wrong, i did that too but I was able to reduce how much time he spent on it. The AC in-flight already causes a lot of dryness in your eyes, staring at the screen for so long doesn’t really help the cause and they become more irritable. You get these in Costco.

- Toys that have some sort of noise free interaction. Great for your fellow travellers, yourself, and above all your kid. Eg: A simple truck that they can pull apart. For those of you that subscribe to subscription boxes for kids. They tend to have these. You’ll be surprised how many of these exist. Here is a sample list of subscription boxes i found for peeps in US:
- Baggage: Its a mistake I’ve seen quite a few parents make. Carrying strollers apart from your usual hand luggage. Huge mistake especially if you are traveling alone. Even with my husband, I haven’t seen it make much of a difference. Just carry one back pack with everything in it. Most airlines are understanding when you want to keep the back pack with you underneath the seat. If you are traveling Lufthansa/British Airways Economy Plus seat, you do have ample leg space to keep your bag throughout the journey as well.

- Convert your toddler’s seating into a play area. Ask for an extra blanket or just use one of the blankets you get, spread it up on the floor of the seat so your toddler can even sit down and play. Again having an ‘Economy Plus’ seat really helps. Toddlers are antsy and they don’t like being tied up period. At least doing this will ensure its safe and sort of clean enough for them. It gives them some amount of freedom of movement or a sense of it.

- Food: My son prefers Indian food and will not touch anything thats bland so I knew that he wasn’t going to eat anything in the flight and I was prepared for that. I got these yoghurt pouches and had a few indian snacks in handy and about 3 bottles of milk. My take on their food through the flight is that they mostly don’t want to eat anything. Probably one of the reasons even we get smaller food portions because we feel quite stuffed just sitting there for a good 20hrs so its quite natural for them to feel that way too and its ok if they don’t eat a whole lot.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first flight alone with my son because a) I really wanted to challenge myself to see how other parents do it b) It's a great experience to work with your child on making them more adaptable c) Your toddler is so much fun once you both get the hang of it.

I hope this blog helped at least some of you.

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