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I have been fortunate that from an early age I have worked with both my kids, to develop their understanding of how stressful a situation such as travelling can be.

This early work has really paid off as the kiddos know what they need to do to assist and help out in these  situations, we are by no means the greatest of travellers but I know that when we travel, be it by planes, trains or automobiles they will support in the situation and no amount of are we there yets' will ever get us to our destination quicker.

The best thing in the world for kids while travelling are Ipads (as we now live in a world where everything is literally at the tips of our fingers), but in saying this the Ipad can be a double edged sword and habits created around screen time now can be a very difficult thing to undo in the future. Therefore we always alternate between car games, math games, good ol fashioned books, having great conversations to singing along with songs (our current favourite is Myles Smith), and only when necessary and if no bad behaviour has arisen do we resort to Ipads, therefore the kids know that it is a treat.

Though kids will always be kids and we have received our fair share of unhappy campers who want something now etc, but i find that a good chat about their behaviour in the moment will always bring them around (most of the time), and usually my spouse and other child supports these chats, that we usually reach a positive outcome. I have from the beginning never pandered to these situations, nor have I been harsh. I have just seen way too many frazzled parents on planes quietly screaming at their unruly kids to know that I would never be able to travel that way.

In my travels to and from Australia I have never been faced with a need for any other documentation other than passports (even though my passport is from a different country to my kids), but if the need arises I have all documentation on a file in my phone that is readily available, even though in the early stages I used to travel with notarised copies in my bag.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

PBH