TRAVELING WITH A TODDLER.

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My Family and I traveled to Lusaka, Zambia from Atlanta GA, as some of you may know. We had our little old man Jayden traveling international for the very first time, in all 5 years of his beautiful bossy life. Whilst preparing for the trip, and while on it, I learnt quite somethings that I thought I’d share with my fellow mommas.

BEFORE THE TRIP

Prepare your little one, tell them they will be going on a trip and count down with them. Jayden is the king of tantrums, but because I prepared him, he had 100 fewer meltdowns. I gave him clear expectations and saw that he followed through.

Me: Jayden we will be going on a trip we will get on a big plane. Then I would express how I wanted him to behave because let’s face it, No one wants to be stuck on a plane for 15 hours, with a strange kid kicking the back of their seat and screaming. So now that you have prepared your little boss, let’s jump into it.

1. ENTERTAINMENT: Kids easily get bored and once that boredom hits, they become disruptive. I had to be on top of Jayden’s entertainment for everyone’s sanity’s sake. I had a tablet, coloring books, headsets, toy trains (his fav) and a SURPRISE toy- Puzzles. Best of all, I had chewing gum haha (he thinks I am cool mom). I would chew the gum and blow bubbles, that kept him hyped for a good bit. Also I tried to engage with him as much as possible, to stretch out his play times. Let’s just say I was his favorite playmate/puppet.
2. DISINFECTANT: I may have a little confession to make.. Promise not to judge. By continuing to read, you and I have entered into a no judgement contract  😆 I AM A GERMAPHOBE. Can’t stand germs, So I had bleach wipes, hand wipes, hand sanitizer and rubber gloves. The last think I wanted was a sick child, so when the time came for us to use the Restroom, I would wear some rubber gloves and get as many bleach wipes as I could, sanitize all high touch points and then some. We would then wash our hands, get back to our seats and use hand wipes plus a bit of sanitizer. You are welcome to skip some steps.
3. BE ON TOP ON THEIR POTTY SCHEDULE: From what I know  99% of the time, kids will wait for the very last minute to say they need to use the loo. With that in mind, I estimated when Jayden needed to potty and I would take him before he asked me. Every stop we made, I made it a point to take him and 100% of the times he went 😆
4. CATCH UP: Eventually the little boss/bosses fall asleep and when they do, use that time to catch up on some face masks, moisturizer and emails. You could reply to pending emails and save them as drafts then send them when you get some internet connection, play with some sleep masks, moisturize your hands and just live your best life.
5. DOCUMENT: After all, your little human won’t be little forever. Capture the good times, breath, enjoy the moment because in a couple of years that’s all you will have. Good memories and hopefully a few IG posts (joke).

Thank you for reading through, I just wish you could you leave me your thoughts in the comments section 😊