Tips for Travelling with Active Children

Depends on the age of the child.
Mine used to love "I put in my suitcase" i.e. I put........an apple next player I put.........an apple and a ball.

Or the first one to spot a ..... Red car, pylon, whatever.

Or someone start a story and next player continues it.

All distractions which may help.

Having re-read your post, probably not

AnneMaria, I might be speaking out of turn here, sorry if I offend - does this child have a special need? Perhaps any profesional they come into contact with can offer help. Otherwise most children start off with pretty short attention spans and its up to us to 'lengthen' it. Sitting down with them at the kitchen table playing an age/stage appropriate game for slowly increasing periods of time. Reading sessions, craft sessions etc etc. Children cant learn to 'amuse' themselves, as our parents used to call it, unless the adults in their lives have shown them how.
On the otherhand I've always thought its a bit much expecting very young children to cope with travelling in cars on their own and whenever its been possible an adult has always sat in the back seat with them. Its usually me and for the GC I have weve used things like 'fuzzy felt' lift the flap books, appropriate story CDs (Oh the memory of travelling down to Devon one year playing Fantastic Mr Fox over and over).

Yes give us a bit more info (annemaria)

GS is three and very bright (as they all are). JessM - more information:

On longer train journeys GS often wants to move around. Although this is possible to a smaller extent it's not always appropriate.

We have tried games, colouring, videos, reading, talking about what is going on outside but once unsettled it's difficult. At home, although it's easier to cope with, GS does sometimes flit around and although he will go back to the book or activity he likes to know what else is going on. This isn't an issue in any way.

My question isn't on how to show a child how to amuse themselves but I am asking for tips for longer journeys (train or coach). We would like to take him further but it's worrying that he will be distressed at not having full freedom.

I think that at some stage all children have to learn that they cannot always have full freedom, as you put it. Can you imagine the chaos when starting school or nursery!

If possible (and I know it isn't always) build up to it. My GC's can be a nightmare when supermarket shopping, so we started with very short periods i.e. "We are just going in here to get some bread and some milk" with loads of praise for being so "good" while the shopping was done, then building up to slightly longer "shops".

I agree with phoenix training program needed.
My DGS at 3 was a sprinter in public places. Also said nonononono a lot and thought he was "naughty". I was staying for a month an this is what helped
Using positive language - avoiding saying "no" if humanly possible
Praising
A chat about "now you are 3 you are a big boy and big boys walk WITH and hold hands"
I saw a little boy yesterday who cannot have been more than 5 who was running off far ahead of mother in town centre and crossed a busy road on his own! . She seemed oblivious.
They have to learn to behave like older kids at some point and confine their physical enthusiasm.
Are you able to get him used to cafe situations and train him up?
Other suggestions - story or music on an iPod, playing I Spy. Playing spot the cow/sheep or spot a red thing, blue thing type games. Insy winsy spider and this little piggy?
At 3 I used to still knock out DSs with bottled milk. Very calming but does not work once they have given up bottles/dummies.

I do think that when children are in their pre-school years its easy to forget how they see the world. A long journey will seem tedius to them. As our children grew up we tried to match their abilities to our expectations. So first holidays were not spent at great distance. Day trips were only an hour or so away. Its much better to plan something simple and have a good time because everyone is relaxed and not getting stressed at the thought of impending disasters. Can always remember taking over a pre-school where every year they had a special outing. The committee of Mums were getting dispondent because every year it seemed to end in a lot of stress and upsets. I suggested that we all just rendevous (in own cars with some provision for sharing for those unable to drive etc) at the local farm shop that had a mini pet zoo and pick your own fruit. It was only a couple of miles away. We had the best pre-school trip ever.

I think it is probably easier on a coach or train than in the car. Our GS is 2 & 9 months and spends ages with stickers, we end up with them all over us! He loves some of the free downlaods I have on my phone and has practically learned the alphabet from one of them just by repetition sitting with me and going over them. He loves to draw and we do that together and then write his name on which he loves.

He also has a leappad which is like a small tablet computer which is great fun especially when someone is helping him. We recently had a lot of fun with a small bag and various small things which he put in and took out again several times pretending it was shopping for our dinner. He has a brilliant imagination and loves to paly let's pretend.

Then of course there are all sorts of books and at that age you can read all the standards like 3 little pigs and 3 billy goats gruff and chances are if you do it when he is tired and sitting on your lap he will nod off.

It all sounds like good fun to me.

I agree with JessM , (which is nice as she agreed with me!)

The "now you are (insert age) you are a big boy/girl and do whatever" can be very effective.

Also avoiding saying "no". When you feel about to say "no", if you can say things like "that's not a good idea because......it might make Teddy feel sick/so & so would be sad/the hamster won't be able to breathe/etc, so perhaps we should do (insert suitable alternative) instead.

Or there is the 'if you are really clever and sit nicely in your car seat (and lets face it there is no room for manoever here they HAVE to stay in the car seat) we will be doing such and such. Also build in a few stops that are a bit of a treat - a snack or a even a run around somewhere. My daughter got very good at planning journeys around garden centres or NT (or similar) properties so that they could have proper 'comfort' breaks. Make the whole thing fun but also be firm about whats important. Children have to learn that they must stay in their car seats, just dont expect too much from them at first.

Pub Cricket - counting how many legs on pub sign, the innings continues until a pub with no legs comes up ie 'kings' head' or crown. then next person in. My favourite is a pub called 'Beehive'

Thanks to everyone.

JessM & phoenix - in other situations he is very good and with shorter journeys GS can sit and look out of the window and play games as well. It's the longer journey that we would like to plan for but it is a worry that GS won't be happy for the full length of it - more likely the end section. By longer journey we are thinking possibly 4 to 6 hours - not anyone's idea even on a good day!

Gosh! In all honesty I would say a journey of over 4 hours was too much for a 3 to 4 year old. We would always plan no longer that 3 hours and that would be with a good 30 - 40 min break. I wish you luck but do think that you might be asking a lot from such a younf child.

Keep them up until really late the night before and wake them very early for the journey. result they sleep almost the whole way

If only that worked in my experience keeping them up later only makes them more cranky and they are up at the same time!!!

We used to fly back from Jamaica with 2 young boys annually. Dr gave them medicine to help them sleep, said it would either go one way or the other. Of course it was 'the other'. Never tried it again. Thank goodness I was young then.

PS a 12 hour flight and they were both under 4s

Thanks to those with the more helpful tips!