Traveling With Children Who Have Special Needs

 This past week we had the privilege of visiting with family in Mexico.  Traveling with children requires some extra planning but traveling to another country with children and a child with special needs can add some extra challenges.  I created a list of some thing I did, and learned from this past trip.1

1.  Flexibility:    I learned that I needed to be flexible.  Adeline has learned a set routine at home and knows what to expect in different situations.  When we placed her in a new environment she did not always respond positively and our older girls where even embarrassed.  I never thought I would allow her to sit with the Kindle at meals but this helped us to enjoy our meals while on our trip.  A large dining room with many different people and foods overwhelmed Adeline, so she would holler like a "bobcat".   Watching a familiar show on the kindle allowed Adeline to focus on one thing and this improved her behavior.  Her sisters where also happy. 

2.  Creativity:    I had to get creative.  The food we ate on our trip was not the same as my cooking.  This upset Adeline and she would not eat.  I was starting to get very worried and stressed about this so I had to get creative.  I found a place that made Mango milkshakes and french fries.  Adeline would eat these, so we visited there a couple of times a day.  I would not normally allow Adeline to eat french fries like that, but we had to be creative.  I also found that if I put chocolate on her pancakes she would eat them, so that worked for breakfast. 

3.  Bring Familiar Items:    I was very worried about our flight, but Adeline did great.  I brought many of her favorite books and the Kindle stocked with her favorite Barney and You Tube shows.  I also packed a bag of snacks and water. 

4.  Wipes and Hand Sanitizer:  When traveling in other countries this is even more important.

5.  Probiotics:  Thankfully we all stayed healthy, I believe that taking a daily probiotic was beneficial.

   

6.  Bottles of Water:  Water is very important while traveling and plans are not always predictable.   We had to stand in very long line at customs and we did not plan on this, thankfully we had our snacks and waters.  Water is also very important for rinsing off things that have fallen to the ground.

We had an amazing time of this trip, with some extra planning and flexibility Adeline was able to experience many new things.  We played by the ocean, walked like never before and learned to swim with floaties.