Travel is a boring but also physically tired effort particularly when you have Behavioral Challenge Child. Of course, that’s no reason to stop traveling.
Once you reach your destination, whether that be visiting family and friends or going on a vacation, you’ll find that the travel ride was worth it – as long as you take the time to plan the trip and have some tricks up your sleeve to manage the travel and your child’s behavior.
Read on to Know How to Do Traveling With A Child With Behavioral Problems.
“I’m Bored, Tired, and Hungry!”
While traveling, children tend to get bored, hungry, and tired. It is depending on the duration of your travel, comfort level and interest of your child. So you have to keep some ways in mind so that your child can easily fall asleep.
Pack Lots of Their Favorite Snacks – That isn’t particularly messy and won’t make Behavioral Challenge Child hyperactive.
Pack Lots of Things to Keep Them Occupied – Like coloring books, activity books, a learning program for attention issues, and whatever else they are interested in. You can make this a surprise package or have your child help you pick out what they want to bring – whichever works better for your child.
Invest In A Travel Pillow – That goes around the back of their neck so they can rest their head for a nap
Pick Your Seat Carefully – If the plane/train is not full, try to get a row with empty seats so your child can lie down with her head on your lap for a snooze.
Get Up and Move Around – Stretching, taking a trip to the bathroom, and just walking up and down the aisles a few times will help distract the child. If he/she doesn’t like the attention he/she may receive from other passengers, do this when the cabin lights are out and most people are asleep.
Only You Know Your Child Best – For this reason, the tips above are a guideline. The point is to keep your child as happy, well-rested, and content as possible when traveling by plane to avoid any negative behaviors. If your child does experience an outburst, don’t worry about what the other passengers think.
Instead, focus on the needs of your child and what you can use in your emergency bag of snacks and activities and what you can do to help calm her down. Traveling with another adult for extra help is always a good idea, but if you’re traveling by yourself, just remember that you can do this, and the more you expose your child to air travel, the easier it will get.
To learn more about how our personalized, drug-free approach may help your child, IIAHP Therapy Center provides you behavioral programs and we also offer Down Syndrome Treatment, Speech Therapy, Cerebral Palsy Treatment for your child.
