Are you getting ready to travel with your family for the holidays? No matter what time of year you may be traveling, it can be stressful! You could do everything to prepare for travel, and as we probably have all experienced, something can and will go wrong! We have gathered a few tips that might help. However, our best advice is to give yourself grace.
Talk about the trip. This may seem like such a silly tip, but talking about the trip is a preventative strategy called, Priming. Priming is preparing someone for an event or situation by letting them know the relevant information beforehand. Talk about the travel. What sounds they might hear, what they will see, what security might be like, how busy the airport might be etc. Talk about the destination. Where you are going, who will be there, what you will see, and what you might hear or even eat. Talk about the weather, what it will feel like, and how they may need to dress.Depending on the child's age, you can also incorporate priming by having the child help you pack. You can also show them pictures of where they are going. If they have never traveled before, you can use supplemental resources like books about planes, car rides or trips.
Keep some items special. Deprivation is not having access to something highly desirable. Use this on your travel day. If your child has a certain activity or item that they love to play with save this for the plane or car ride. Waiting to give this item until you are on the plane, will increase its value. The opposite effect of this is letting your child have this item in the car, throughout the airport and on the plane, thus decreasing their desire for it because it has become saturated. *If it works for your family, you could also bring novel, or new, items with you. Stop by the dollar store and pick out a few things that are new and different that your child could have on travel day.
Make a plan for preventing behavior before it occurs. Environmental Manipulation is another preventative strategy that may seem simple but can help! You are simply changing the environment to prevent a behavior from happening. Here's some examples of what this can look like while traveling.
You know that loud nosies are aversive to your child, so you provide headphones.
Walking up and down the aisles of the airplane or terminal instead of requiring your child to sit and wait.
Bringing items from home such as a stuffed animal or a blanket to make their seat more comfortable.
Making sure they eat before and have snacks ready for them.
Giving them something to chew or a pacifier when the plane is taking off to ease their ears popping from pressure.
You plan for them to sleep on the plane so you bring their white noise machine.
Another tip for using environmental manipulations is to keep things out of sight that they cannot have access to. For instance, if you are bringing an Ipad or their favorite snack for the airplane and you have these items where they can see them beforehand, your child is going to be more likely to ask (sometimes repeatedly and/or cry!) for that item.
Wishing you luck this holiday season and hope your travels are a breeze! To help, we've created a free visual packing list to use with your child and we've also gathered some of our favorite traveling items! We are not associated with any of the travel links/products.
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