Question on traveling with kids to different time zones

[Anonymous]

We wanted to take kids out west and considering holiday season - our kids will be a brand new 5 and a young 7. We prob only have a week and will either do SD or see some relatives in SF. Wondering how time zone with 3 HR difference would impact kids over only 5-7 days? It's something that's stopped me from taking kids too far out but now kids are older..at home we do a 8pm-7am routine. Both kids on school schedule and they do well asleep latest by 9pm and earliest wake up 630am. No naps. Typically it's more 830-7 for older and 8-730 for little one. Like clockwork. I can't imagine how the PST zone might f this up? What should our expectation be for adjusting to PST and is this going to wreck havoc for us returning for a long time?!

[Anonymous]

I've been traveling to the west coast with DS since he was 5 months old. He's never had an issue adjusting to time zones.

Usually going out, he sleeps on the plane, and then we stay up until his regular bedtime (8). Then he'll sleep until 6 or 7 the next morning (this is normal for him). Coming back, he is usually so worn out from the excitement of vacation that he'll sleep until 7 or later the next morning, and reset to ET.

But all kids are different. You may want to move bedtime back an hour, slowly, the week before you leave.

[Anonymous]

They will adjust but we use the rule of thumb a hour a day to adjust. So in 3 days they will be on local time. With our kids we couldn't do much to change that and its always hard with the going to bed and getting up early. We did San Diego with our DS for holidays and it meant he was exhausted earlier than all of the relatives and up earlier the next day. This was a problem when we stayed in the same has as relatives but then we selected hotels so we could go about what we wanted to do without waking the house. We have traveled regularly with our kids over various amounts of time changes and it still is the same story - several days to adjust to local time home or away. Mornings and evenings are the trouble times - tired or can't sleep in. Its doable as long as you plan ahead a little and anticipate issues- for us it was that first holiday dinner together as a family - we couldn't arrive until the day before and our kids were a hot tired mess around the older relatives who wanted a late dinner.

[Anonymous]

I've been taking my kids (ages 4 and 2)once a year to see my family in CA and it usually takes them a day or two to adjust to PST, and the same amount of time to adjust back to EST when we return. On the return, after the day or two adjustment period, they're usually back to they're regular routine.

[Anonymous]

It won't be bad. kids adjust faster than adults. We took kids 3 and 6 last summer and they were fine. We arrived around 1pm and kept them up until 8pm local. They were tried and slept until 5:30am the next day; oddly I was up before them After that they were good to go and pretty much on their regular schedule. Coming back is easier if you have a day or 2 before they have to be up early for school because they may need to stay up a little later and sleep in some.

[Anonymous]

No problem. We travel to Europe and Asia to see family. Europe is fine. Asia is brutal, because day turns into night. My kids woke up the first few midnights hungry for lunch!

[Anonymous]

Everyone adjusts differently. Its not so bad that I wouldn't do it, but I would build in time to adjust going and coming. Going out they will be tired early evening and up earlier than local time for a few days. Coming home they sleep in! BUT that's a problem if they and you need to be some where early in the morning. While I prefer to maximize my time at the destination as my kids get older I realize I need to factor in a recovery day or two when I return home. Certainly you can do without but my kids are a hot mess when over tired so if I'm sending them to school after traveling its not pleasant for anyone involved. I am a firm believer in trying to adapt to local time quickly - my SIL prefers to stay on her own time zone when she travels which means the kids are all off when it comes to meals and activities - I'd rather be on local time a participate in meals and activities with family members.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, these are not big time changes. It will be fine. We do 2 hours difference all the time to see family.