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CNN Sunday Morning

Tips for Travel With Children

Aired May 27, 2001 - 08:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: The Memorial Day weekend kicks of the summer travel season. As we all know this is unofficially the first weekend of summer and if you have children, you know how hard it is to keep them busy and happy while you are on the road.

This morning we've got some great travel tips for parents. Eileen Ogintz joins us from New York. She's a syndicated travel columnist and author of "Taking the Kids."

Let's start with on the road since that's what you start with in this article that will appear on cnn.com soon. You begin by saying you're not even out of the driveway before the kids demand to know how soon they'll be able to swim. Are we there yet? How, beyond technology, can we ameliorate that situation?

EILEEN OGINTZ, AUTHOR, "TAKING THE KIDS": Well, I think the more you can get the kids involved in planning for the trip the better it's going to be for everybody. You know, it's not going to be one Kodak moment after another but make sure everybody's going to have something to do that they want to do along the way.

WATERS: OK, how does that involve the kids, the planning? What do they plan?

OGINTZ: Well, sit down and say, you know, what do you guys want to do and make sure everybody in the family gets to do at least one thing every day, and that way they'll be more cooperative with you when you want to do stuff that you want to do.

WATERS: But there's still that boring aspect of being in the car for hours and hours, are we there yet? What do you do in the car?

OGINTZ: Absolutely. You've heard that a lot, I'm sure, yourself.

WATERS: Oh, my. Yeah. Well, you want to keep mom and dad sane and keep the kids entertained and that's almost a -- that's like oil and water sometimes.

OGINTZ: Well, I think you need your bag of tricks, for one thing. Masking tape is always great. Seriously. I'm not kidding.

WATERS: I suggested duct tape this morning when I considered that. OGINTZ: Because the kids can -- they're not going to tie each other up, but they can mark their own space and make designs along the way. Laminate a map for the kids and they can help follow the route. Band-Aids not only because they need them when you never have them, but they can play hospital in the back seat with their dolls. And disposable cameras and journals are really elementary but they really work. Have the kids take funny pictures along the way. If you've got a laptop invest in a digital camera and they can e-mail pictures back home to grandma and grandpa.

WATERS: Now, I would imagine this summer a lot more folks are going to be traveling by air because I talked to an airline representative last week who said demand is low, so I imagine ticket prices are lower and a lot more folks are going to be going overseas and such. Any special advice here?

OGINTZ: Well, it's really, it's hard, especially for little ones, to keep them in small places. So I think the more stuff you have for them to do the better. If you're going to visit relatives, have the little ones have a little photo album so they can see who they're going to see, who they're going to visit.

I like these little gadgets, ear planes that are basically just little ear plugs that really help you from feeling the air pressure too much. There have been a lot of times I wished I could hand one to somebody behind me with a screaming toddler. And always bring food because the kids are never going to want to eat what there is and they're always going to be starving after it's been taken away. So let them help pack a school lunch.

WATERS: All right. I wear those ear plugs around the house sometimes.

OGINTZ: Not a bad idea.

WATERS: Eileen Ogintz, she will appear in her column on cnn.com this weekend if you want to know more. Thanks for coming in.

OGINTZ: Thanks for having me. Happy travels.

WATERS: You, too.

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