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Joy Paley is a guest blogger for An Apple a Day and a writer on ultrasound technician schools for the Guide to Health Education.

We’ve all been there: trapped on an airplane, with that annoying baby crying in the next aisle throughout the flight. I was even on a plane once where another “helpful” woman angrily screamed, “Have you heard of a pacifier?!” Maybe like me, now you’re on the other side of the equation, with a toddler in tow, trying to fend off pissed-off passengers with apologetic half smiles. From navigating the maze of airport security to the endless hours in the sky, here are ways to cut down on the inevitable stress of flying with your child. Just look at it this way: at least we don’t have to travel by wagon train anymore.

Before You Get to the Airport

•    Make sure you have the right size containers. You’re allowed to fly with juice, formula, or breast milk for baby, but it has to be in the right size container. Only 3.4 ounce (100 ml) or smaller containers are allowed. Check the TSA website for the most recent information on airport security and what it means for your toddler.

•    Keep your stroller organized: You’ll have to take everything out of your stroller, in order for it to be x-rayed. Keeping things organized will cut down on annoying time in the security line. Pack things together, and minimize the amount of clutter floating in your stroller’s compartments.

•    Bring a baby seat and reserve that extra plane seat: While it might be possible to carry your child on your lap while flying, it sure isn’t comfortable. The money you can save by doing it might be appealing, but reserving an extra seat is more courteous to the fellow fliers and more likely to result in a calmer flight for your kid. And, if your child weighs more than forty pounds, you’re required by the FAA to restrain them with an airplane seatbelt.

•    Bring the right entertainment: If it’s the portable DVD player your kid loves, make sure it’s in the bag. Don’t overpack, however, or you’ll be lugging a heavy bag through the airport.

In Flight

•    Pack a diaper change kit: Put all the things you need to change a few diapers in one easily accessible bag. You’ll be glad you had that diaper, some wipes, and a good smelling lotion around when you need to change a diaper in flight. If you’ve got a larger kid, ask a crew member if there is a bathroom on the aircraft with a change table, as this is often the case.

•    Dealing with ear popping: That uncomfortable feeling of pressure buildup in the ears can be one of the most trying things about flying with children. A pacifier is helpful, and should be put in during take-off and before your descent. Unfortunately, for kids too young to understand the instructions to swallow, crying can be the only effective way to relieve ear pressure. Let them cry it out—it’s actually helpful.

•    Bring more food than you think you’ll need: Pack food and snacks as if you won’t be getting any on the plane. This is often the case these days, and even if there is food that doesn’t mean your toddler will actually eat it. When it’s time to eat, feed your kid first, then yourself. Manipulating trays of food in flight can be difficult, and you’ll be more relaxed while eating if your child has already.

•    Be prepared for motion sickness: If it’s your child’s first flight or you know they are prone to motion sickness, be prepared. Put a Ziploc bag in your purse or in front of your seat, if you fear they might puke. And of course, keep lots of wet wipes around for clean up. Don’t let them eat too much before the flight, and consider putting a disposable bib on any child that may get sick. Even a little puke smells really bad, when stuck in a tiny airplane.

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Image by Steve Wampler via Flickr

In this modern world where husbands and wives are working, budgeting for the family produces discussions between the couples. It is either the one with the higher salary will control the financial aspects or the wives in which most of us know are the ones who keeps and budgets the money for the needs of the family. Quarrels regarding financial matters would sometimes result to divorce or broken families which in turn will greatly affect the children. Keeping the home peaceful and conducive for living, parents should take money matters as one of a serious issue that should be dealt with accordingly.

Here are tips to make family budget more effective.

1. Arrange things according to priorities

Goals and priorities are two different aspects. Goals only support the priorities. The family’s priorities should be for a long term. This is the main target of the family’s welfare like children’s health and education.

Priorities should be 2-3 only so that it would not be tough to the family to reach the target. It should be written and posted in every part of the house to let the members be reminded of them from time to time.

2. Goals that support your priorities should be listed

These are achievable yet challenging ones. Try to list not more than 3 goals in each priority so as not to divert your focus on the budget. The priority in education can be supported by setting aside a percentage of the family’s income for it.

3. Challenging ones self to hit the targeted goals

This is living with the goals that you have listed. This is an everyday practice and monitoring the progress through the use of different systems in tracking such as notebooks, journals, or even hiring someone to do the accounting but of course you will be spending to pay for an accountant. If the members can do it themselves then it would be much better. All incomes and expenses should be reflected in the tracking system.

4. Do a constant evaluation with your life

Evaluate on your checklist of goals. If there are goals that were already been achieved, then it would be time to reorganize or reformat your list. There are times when you need to re-evaluate the goals that you have set for the family just like for instance a sudden loss of a member of the family especially if that member is pouring in a certain amount of money from his or her work or business.

When this time happens, you will be starting with another set of priorities and goals but what is important is that, you are all doing this for the welfare of all the members of the family.

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Family holidays can be a great joy, but they can also be hard work too. Parenting teenagers or children of any age can be a challenge, but factor in holiday excitement and the stress of packing and you could end up with quite a bit of bother around the home. Trips require a lot of planning, especially when you have got to think from your other family members’ perspectives too. Thinking of the whole picture can sometimes help to iron out the kinks that can crop up along the way.

Choosing your destination

You may have chosen to visit the same hotel at the same resort for years in a row, but consider the ages of your children. Are they still young enough to enjoy the kids clubs, or do they think that they are designed for “babies”? Some hotels will only accept guests of a certain age, especially those attractive to adults staying without children, so it might be a good idea to consider this at the time of booking too.

Packing the bags

We all know that some teenagers don’t get out of bed until gone three in the afternoon, but getting them to help with the packing might save any arguments about why you didn’t pack their favourite pair of shoes. If there is plenty of laundry to do, why not try to get everyone to chip in with their own job? For example, an older child can sort the laundry into colours, while a younger child can make sure there are no tissues in any pockets!

Make the journey fun

Even adults can get bored on long journeys! As a child it can seem like a journey is taking forever, and as a teenager it can appear no better. Bringing along activities can be essential if you want to keep them entertained along the way, although it could be best to keep in mind the loudness of these games so you don’t irritate the other passengers. Comfortable clothing and blankets are great to keep the little (and not so little) ones happy.

On holiday

Stresses can crop up in all sorts of ways, but many holiday troubles can involve money, boredom, and tiredness. If you are going on a long-haul holiday, giving your kids time to get over their jet lag can make for a happier atmosphere, even if they think they are raring to go. If you have kids of different ages, it might be constructive to let them take turns to pick activities in order to keep tension to a minimum.

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Parents play an essential role in molding the characteristics of their children. Recently, teenagers take money saving for granted. They thought that they were too young for this kind of investment. This is the time for parents to guide and exercise money saving activities for their young children to help them be ready for the future.

Guidelines in money saving for your children:

1. Parents should teach their children what money is as soon as the kids learn how to count. This should be a daily practice in order for the kids to retain all the information in their long term memory and not forget about them.
2. Queries about money matters should be given importance and explained to them to make them understand what the real value of money is and how will this affect their life when they grow old. Be sure to entertain questions and provide them easy to understand answer right there and then.
3. Motivation is another role a parent should give to their children with regards to saving money. They should encourage their kids to set aside a certain amount and tell them that it will accumulate in time and they can purchase their favorite toy or something they want for themselves.
4. Giving money in exchange of doing good in the house like doing their beds, cleaning their rooms and feeding their pets will enable the children to value money. This will make them realize that it is not that easy to earn for a little amount of money and the end result, they will spend it wisely.
5. Another way is to give them containers like piggy banks or any reusable container to put their coins into. It is best if they use the transparent containers for them to be able to see their progress everyday. They will be motivated to put more coins into their banks to make it full and deposit it to the bank.

Teaching your children about money and saving it can not be achieved drastically. As the saying practice makes perfect tells us, it should be a routine and done everyday not just for a time being. The essence of money should be integrated in everything that they do to continue their education about it. Parents should have the patience to guide their children in all aspects.

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My daughter frequently ignore me…on purpose. I found this article on Baby Center about “Dealing with Ignoring” and I find the ideas quite helpful. Here it is:

“Often kids ignore parents so they can avoid doing something or fighting over something they really don’t want to do. Or they do so because they know you’ll get mad and they want to get a rise out of you. Some kids get in the habit of ignoring parents because parents then give up and do the thing themselves. These are all forms of disrespect that should not go unaddressed.

Some ideas for an ignoring problem:

• Start by making sure your requests are simple and specific. “You need to pick up sticks in the yard and put them in the compost heap” is better than “Clean up the yard.” That way, your child can’t claim she didn’t know what you meant.
• Find the right motivation. We all respond to positive reinforcement, so offer rewards when your child does listen and follow through. (Your reward could be something as simple as a hug or a heartfelt “Thank you!”)
• Try to eliminate “No” from your vocabulary. The more they hear it, the more you begin to sound like the teacher from Charlie Brown (waa waaa waa wa) and the easier it is to tune you out. Instead of “No, don’t use the pogo stick in the house,” try “Take your pogo stick outside, please.”
• Don’t let your child get away with ignoring you on purpose. If she doesn’t do as you request, mete out a swift, appropriate penalty.”

photo credit: nattu

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School is almost ending and this will be the first time in my life that I will be with the kids at home during summer vacations. I really don’t know how it is going to be. My husband will be working and only having vacations in August so I will be dealing with two active and demanding kids by myself.

I know most of you are WAHM and know how it is but, this is the first time for me and I don’t know how am I going to entertain them for so many weeks. We already have the pool in the backyard so most of the days will be spent by the pool but, what about those lousy and green days when it’s to cold to go to the pool?

Being jobless after 22 years of full time workers brings us a lot of financial problems. We have a small budget and we can’t spend extra money. Although Disney World Packages are with an affordable price for most families, I’m not part of those families.We are really tight when it comes to money and staying at home, enjoying the pool and “the house” will be our summer vacations.

Of course we have the beach 20 minutes away but gas is expensive not to mention being all packed up with beach towels, snacks, sand toys, sun umbrella, etc. alone with two kids. I’m not saying I won’t go, of course I will. It is really good for their health to breath the sea breeze, to run along the beach and to play on the sand. Of course, I never forget the sun protector.

I only intend to go to the beach once a week. so, I guess I have to make a vacation plan with movie days, picnic days, pool days, and other kind of days.

What do you do to keep your kids distracted and enjoying the summer vacations?

What kind of activities do you choose to spend the time with them and still have time for the daily chores and blogging?

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Healthy Moms – www.thehealthymoms.net

Healthy Moms is an online magazine for moms.

Started in 2007, Healthy Moms, is ranked the number one health blog for moms at RN Central.com. Their website is more than just a health blog, they provide helpful information, tips, and personal experiences about spirituality, fitness, safety, pregnancy, maternity acupressure, parenting, and other women’s issues.

They provide everything from potty training to tips on how to stay physically fit.

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