I thought about this for a bit and reflected back on what I do usually when I travel with Kian alone, or even take him to the park myself. My first reaction was going to be:
- Patience
- Some more patience
- A little bit more patience
- Then some more patience; and finally
- Lots of patience
Ok, maybe more than patience, you also do require imagination, a sense of humour, your funniest faces, ridiculous dance moves and some reserve energy lying around somewhere (did anyone say, Red Bull?). Whoever told you that entertaining a kid was easy, was obviously lying or didn’t know what they were talking about! I mean, come on, do you really think you need much else when you’re travelling with a child?
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Kidding aside, I then thought to myself, besides all of the above, what else do I really need to carry with me… to make sure (a) Kian is ok, and more importantly (b) to make sure I survive our trip together? Being paranoid, and of a generally OC nature, I always want to be prepared; so the basic necessities will always be covered… (or should be covered). These include:
- Food [check]… and I’m not talking about the healthy kind… you need fruits, snacks, and things that can be stuffed into your child’s mouth fairly easily while they’re distracted and things that don’t make too much of a mess (you can pretty much forget about that dal chawal you think is going to be nutritious for your child on the trip!);
- Drink – no, not THAT kind of a drink – although sometimes you do wonder if having a flask in your coat pocket wouldn’t help [check] – water and/or a juice is not a bad solution.
- Toy [check] or more – for those parents that haven’t figured it out, the attention span of a toddler is about 3 minutes (at best), and so having more than one toy or distraction in your bag is extremely helpful, not to mention extremely necessary!
- Books [check] – given it is Kian, and his love for books, I would never leave the house without at least one favourite book of his. Then, no matter where we are, I can be rest assured that for a few hours (who am I kidding)… a few minutes at least, he will be distracted, and eat his food, not bawl or just listen to me… Ten Little Dinosaurs always does the trick!
- Baby carrier – even though Kian is completely mobile now; he can walk, run and even make his way up and down stairs… his little legs can carry him only so far. After a little bit of walking and running around, he wants to be carried. So, if I don’t want to lug around his buggy everywhere, the Ergo Baby carrier we have is the best solution. In that, I carry Kian facing me and can look at him as we take on the world… the advantage of the carrier is that it allows him to rest, frees up my arms and is so comfortable that it knocks him out pretty quickly. So, whether Kian and I are headed to the park, or we are going grocery shopping or better yet if I take him to Lord’s to watch the cricket, I’ve come to realize that the carrier is the best investment we ever made.
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This is just my basic list. I am sure there are tons of other things I am missing from this. I mean, if it were that easy to travel with just five things and a kid, wouldn’t everyone be doing it… to be honest, if I would have figured out what those five magical things would be, I would be selling that as a formula and have retired as a millionaire by now… yet, here I am still trying to figure that formula out and writing for KSP! Ha!
Thankfully, Kian spends a majority of time with his mama and she attends to all these details. Even when I do have to take Kian out, mama is always there to check and ensure that I have all of the above items. And that’s why the most important thing I would carry with me when travelling with Kian is…
… you guessed right…
Mama!
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Mansi Zaveri
Janani S Koushik
Janani S Koushik
Mansi Zaveri
KSP Team
Neha Mital
