Choosing where to go on a family vacation is quite possibly the fastest way to guarantee that by the end of going through all of the options, nobody can be bothered going anymore. It’s not that vacations are bad. Vacations are very very moreish. The issue is that no two people will ever even agree on which dessert to share at a restaurant, let alone a whole family agreeing where to go on vacation. But we persevere, choosing between city breaks, beach holidays, safaris, and jungle stays, because working all year with no break is nobody’s idea of fun. Eventually, a destination is agreed. Yay. But wait…
Those dreaded airport hours are longer than normal hours by at least 20 minutes. Got a three hour wait? It’s going to feel like four. Easily. The kids will get restless. They will want to explore and run and crawl and pick things up and shout and spin around. Is the airport a safe place for such activity? No. There’s a lot going on, and accidents can happen (get in touch with a PI lawyer in Hollywood if you are affected). That’s why it’s important to provide entertainment for your child in airports, to ensure that the time is passed in as pleasant and safe a way as possible.
Mix it up
There’s no one cure-all way to entertain kids for hours on end. Children don’t have an attention span. Their interest in something lasts as long as it takes for either something else to cross their minds or a butterfly to fly past. This means that if you’re planning on entertaining your child for several hours at the airport via a single colouring book or toy, you’re in for a rough time. Space is, of course, an issue when travelling, but if you can manage to find space for one activity per hour (which we’ll get to in a moment), you may be able to fill the gaps in interest with walking around the airport shops and cafes.
Something to do, on the hour every hour
Children need something to do every waking moment of the day. Unfortunately, due to the limitations on space when travelling, you can’t exactly bring along a garden swing set and play pen. Small things that don’t add too much weight to your luggage are obviously desirable. So, what could that include?
Books, tablets, and hand held puzzles. Books shouldn’t be too taxing – think information books for children with lots of pictures, because anything too wordy will no doubt require too much concentration in a place with a lot of people moving around and things to distract away from the page. Tablets and headphones can be used to provide entertainment in the form of kids’ TV shows, audiobooks, gaming, and music. Lastly, handheld puzzles are cheap and easy to carry with you – the kind that you find in children’s magician sets, where you must separate the rings or find a way to make several odd shaped blocks form a perfect cube.
Remember, books, tablets, and puzzles can keep you entertained, too!