Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Most children don't pick the family vacation as the time to start throwing tan-
trums. The behavior will be evident before you leave home, and home is the best
place to deal with it. Be forewarned, however, that bad habits die hard, and a child
accustomed to getting attention by throwing tantrums will not simply give up after a
single instance of disengagement. More likely, the child will at first escalate the in-
tensity and length of his tantrums. By your consistent refusal over several weeks (or
even months) to respond to his behavior, however, he will finally adjust to the new
paradigm.
Children are cunning as well as observant. Many understand that a tantrum in
public is embarrassing to you and that you're more likely to cave in than you would at
home. Once again, consistency is the key, along with a bit of anticipation. When trav-
eling, it's not necessary to retreat to the privacy of a hotel room to isolate your child.
You can carve out space for time-out almost anywhere: on a theme park bench, in a
park, in your car, in a restroom, even on a sidewalk. You can often spot the warning
signs of an impending tantrum and head it off by talking to the child before he reaches
an explosive emotional pitch.
6. SALVAGE OPERATIONS
. Children are full of surprises, and sometimes the surprises
are not good. If your sweet child manages to make a mistake of mammoth propor-
tions, what do you do? This happened to an Ohio couple, resulting in the offending
kid pretty much being grounded for life. Fortunately there were no injuries or lives
lost, but the parents had to determine what to do for the remainder of the vacation. For
starters, they split the group. One parent escorted the offending child back to the hotel
where he was effectively confined to his guest room for the duration. That evening,
the parents arranged for in-room sitters for the rest of the stay. Expensive? You bet,
but better than watching your whole vacation go down the tubes.
A family at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom theme park had a similar ex-
perience, although the offense was of a more modest order of magnitude. Because it
was their last day of vacation, they elected to place the child in time-out, in the theme
park, for the rest of the day. One parent monitored the culprit while the other par-
ent and the siblings enjoyed the attractions. At agreed times the parents would switch
places. Once again, not ideal, but preferable to stopping the vacation.
