| Not Educating Your Child About COVID |
| Failing To Identify Essential And Non Essential Items |
| Forgetting Prescriptions |
| Not Booking The Right Hotel |
| Buying Them Food From Outside |
| Conclusion |
After more than a year of not being able to take family trips during COVID due to the lockdown initiative, more and more countries are beginning to open up their travel restrictions and adjusting themselves to the pandemic life. While travelling may not be as easily accessible as it was once before, it is at least a distinct possibility now, which is why we must make sure to take all the possible precautions before engaging in it, especially when travelling with kids.
Travelling with kids can be quite complicated since the vaccine is not available for children under the age of 18. This means that even if you do get yourself vaccinated, your child is still very prone to developing an infection when travelling with kids during coronavirus, now all the more since the delta variant has been introduced.
The exact safety of taking family trips during COVID still remains undetermined since there have been both mild cases and extremely ill variants. Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome is a specific health condition that has been targeting children since the second wave of the pandemic has struck. With thousands of children being hospitalised and hundreds more dying every day, there are a lot of factors that you need to consider before travelling during COVID. This has led a lot of people to question whether or not it is safe to travel with a baby during COVID.
Given below are some common mistakes that you must avoid making while travelling with kids during COVID.
1. Not Educating Your Child About COVID
It is surprising how many young children have absolutely zero ideas about the implications of contracting the coronavirus and the restrictions one must follow to avoid getting it. A lot of children have been very undereducated about this topic. Not having the right kind of knowledge about essential topics, especially ones such as taking family trips during COVID and travelling with children. Take the time to sit down with your child and educate them about the coronavirus, how we can take necessary steps to avoid it, and how they can better adapt their lives to the restrictions of the pandemic.
In case you are taking them on family trips during COVID, make sure that your child properly memorises the route, safe places to visit, the proper equipment to wear, etc, before letting them step out and engage in travelling with kids. A good way to make them memorise this would be to make them write down these points in a small notebook. This way your child can refer to this information whenever needed and make responsible decisions about their travel choices.
2. Failing To Identify Essential And Non Essential Items
One key mistake that a lot of parents make while travelling with children is that they fail to identify what they need and do not need for the trip. Going on family trips during COVID-19 requires just the right way of packing, making it the key essential to any trip.
In case you plan on travelling during COVID, especially with a baby, make sure that you are carrying essentials like bibs and diaper bags, instead of diverting your attention to non-essential items such as shades, caps, and fancy clothing.
Always make it a point to carry an extra change of clothes to make flying with a baby during COVID an easier thing to do. For those who plan on travelling during COVID with slightly more grown-up children, make sure to draw their attention from non-essential packing things like electronics and instead focus on masks, sanitizers, gloves, and any other essential items that will help you reduce your field of contact with external objects.
Also, make it a point to carry a makeshift first aid kit that contains bare essentials such as bandages and some basic medications which can help you counter simple problems such as wounds and headaches. Having a first aid kit can be quite handy since you never know when you might end up needing one.
3. Forgetting Prescriptions
One of the most fatal mistakes that you can make while travelling during coronavirus is to engage in it without the right prescriptions. In case you are someone or travelling with someone who has a certain type of medical requirement, chances are that they need a prescription to give you the right kind of medication for it. Sudden changes in the atmosphere or even the ambiance have been known to set off a lot of medical conditions as well. In case you are flying with kids during COVID and your child has some kind of pre-existing medical condition, make sure to make copies of their prescriptions.
You can also have a backup by mailing yourself a photo of it onto your phone. Another thing that you can do when you are flying with kids during COVID is to stock up on all their medication for the trip and organise the pills using accessories such as a caddy. Not only will this eliminate the hassle of carrying around prescriptions, but you can also have timely reminders about the next time your child needs to take their pill.
4. Not Booking The Right Hotel
If you are someone who is travelling during coronavirus with their child, one of the most important things that you need to keep in mind would be to book a lodging option that is safe and secure for the entire family. Children have extremely sensitive immune systems and they can get triggered very easily especially during tolling situations such as travel.
This is why you need to make it a point to choose a hotel that has on-call facilities such as a doctor. In case you are flying with kids during COVID, it would also be a wise thing to go for a hotel that provides round the clock food service as children often tend to have disrupted food schedules when in travel and you never know when they might feel hungry. You can also opt for something that offers stimulating activities such as an open play area or even a video game room so your child can feel a little laid back and comfortable.
5. Buying Them Food From Outside
A healthy habit to develop when taking family trips during COVID would be to stock up on a huge pile of snacks and other food items that your child can consume throughout the process. A lot of the food available on the streets during travelling is often unhygienic and is not prepared with the right quality of ingredients. This can potentially lead to a lot of problems such as indigestion or even food poisoning in some cases.
The better thing to do here would be to pack some of your child’s favourite food, even if it means junk. This way, at least you will have a better insight into what your child is putting inside their body. In case a situation does arise wherein you absolutely need to feed them outside food, make sure to stay away from crowded places and sanitize their hand well before eating. In case you are flying with baby during COVID and they cannot eat, make sure to sanitize your own hands before feeding them.
Conclusion
One of the most important things to keep in mind while travelling with kids is to understand the gravity of the situation that we are in. The coronavirus is something that has affected every single family across the world. It has been a stressful and compelling time for all of us. Now is the time to be compassionate and fair. Do not go out on family trips during COVID unless it is absolutely necessary.
Save up your resources and even consider distributing them among the poor in case you have a lot of them. Take your vaccinations on time and make sure that your child gets a vaccine too once they turn 18. While the urge to travel might be fun to hear, hold off on acting on it until the pandemic passes, and then you can enjoy as many family trips as you would like.
