Forgetting what it’s like to travel with children

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me why American parenting is so uptight and just overdone?

I wonder the same thing. I'm a Gen Xer. I blame the Baby boomers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would give anything for my grandma to even have met my husband and children.

x1000 I would love to be in OP's shoes. Oh, my grandma was special and my husband and kids would have really loved her.

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't know if you're still reading (wouldn't blame you if you weren't!) but something that helped me was ditching the pack 'n plays. It depends on your kids, but my toddler is used to sleeping on a cot at daycare, so she sleeps in one of those Shrunk blow-up beds with the sides and her pre-k aged sister sleeps on a blow-up mattress. Much easier (and lighter!) to throw the two blow-ups into the car and easy set-up when there.

Bonus, I'm leaving them there this time so I won't have to cart them back at Christmas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can someone tell me why American parenting is so uptight and just overdone?

It is a DC thing.

[Anonymous]

You definitely don’t need all that stuff. Pack and plays sure, as someone with twin toddlers myself, I see the incredible benefit in having baby cages at the ready. But why exactly can’t your child eat anything at grandmas house? Even if your kid had some kind of extreme dietary issues like severe allergies, you should still be able to order some package snacks off of Amazon and have them delivered at grandmas house in advance of your trip. And why on earth do you need a video monitor if you are all sleeping in the same room anyway? You are right that they are probably not going to nap while or sleep well, but driving five hours in one day was probably going to throw off everyone’s schedule anyway.

All that said, it is absolutely true that once parents get about a decade out of the baby and toddler years, a lot of them develop a special kind of amnesia that allows them to remember their one and two-year-olds as being essentially older three or four-year-olds in terms of behavior, need for naps, etc. As the last person in my friend group by about a decade to get around to having kids, I cannot tell you how many friends who were super high maintenance at the time and told me horror stories about how terrible it was if their kids got off schedule, now tell me I should just go with the flow and not stress so much. They literally will tell me that their kid never had an issue with XYZ even though I personally witnessed meltdowns at group gatherings caused by that very issue. People really do forget.

[Anonymous]

Good lord. Stop with the guilt tripping. She would have seen her. Why is an overnight visit obligatory?

I could drop dead tomorrow. My husband surely could given a recent diagnosis. But that “this could be the last” trip is bull. If you have lived well and enjoyed each other over the years then you have the memorirs. You have the I love Yous.i will never lay a guilt trip on someone for trying to do what is best for their family.

[Anonymous]

I think you should sell your children so you can get back to the no hassle lifestyle you prefer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You definitely don’t need all that stuff. Pack and plays sure, as someone with twin toddlers myself, I see the incredible benefit in having baby cages at the ready. But why exactly can’t your child eat anything at grandmas house? Even if your kid had some kind of extreme dietary issues like severe allergies, you should still be able to order some package snacks off of Amazon and have them delivered at grandmas house in advance of your trip. And why on earth do you need a video monitor if you are all sleeping in the same room anyway? You are right that they are probably not going to nap while or sleep well, but driving five hours in one day was probably going to throw off everyone’s schedule anyway.

All that said, it is absolutely true that once parents get about a decade out of the baby and toddler years, a lot of them develop a special kind of amnesia that allows them to remember their one and two-year-olds as being essentially older three or four-year-olds in terms of behavior, need for naps, etc. As the last person in my friend group by about a decade to get around to having kids, I cannot tell you how many friends who were super high maintenance at the time and told me horror stories about how terrible it was if their kids got off schedule, now tell me I should just go with the flow and not stress so much. They literally will tell me that their kid never had an issue with XYZ even though I personally witnessed meltdowns at group gatherings caused by that very issue. People really do forget.

Np. Best answer.

[Anonymous]

A) She's 90 years old, forgive her for not having much of a memory anymore
B) Back then most people lived in the same town as their families and did not travel
C) FFS - it would be one thing if it was your parents or siblings, but this is your 90 year old grandmother. You sound like an ungrateful bitch. Your poor grandmother doesn't deserve such an awful grandchild.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Geez y’all are feeling extra harsh lately! I love the idea to leave the packnplays for Christmas. I think we can leave the booster seats, too. My toddlers have to sleep in them as the house is not toddler proofed and they can open doors, pull stuff (think heavy tvs) on top of themselves, get into medications and cleaning supplies, etc. They will go to bed way before everyone else tonight and one is prone to nosebleeds here (no idea why) so we need the monitor on them. One of my sons has a severe feeding disorder (formerly tube fed) and cannot chew. All of his food has to be pureed and his liquids thickened so he doesn’t aspirate. He’s also allergic to dairy (among other things) and my grandma puts butter on everything. We have to bring food to blend for him, or preblend at home and pack it all in a cooler. He also has a lot of daily medications that we had to pack to stay over. I love my grandma, so we packed and left yesterday instead of early this morning... and I am currently holding a sleeping child who was up half the night. Anyway, thanks for the ideas from helpful posters! It gave me some ideas to make our next trip a little easier.