Welcome to my life

Question- How do we manage kids jet lag with a time zone difference? How long does it take? 

Lakshmi’s Learning- We have done this many times during our travels which have included everything ranging from: -3 hours to +16 hours... and of course, made mistakes and learned along the way. Here is an “optimal” way... and we adults have to do it too. (We are in Australia now +16 hours from US eastern time zone)

The recommendation is simple- once you are in the new time zone- everyone stay on that new time zone! Even if everyone is exhausted and it’s 5pm- do not go to sleep. Stay up, walk around, do fun things, exhaust yourselves and the kids! IF everyone needs a little nap after lunch time- then fine (2-3 hours max). But do not make that 5 hours- then you will struggle with waking up in middle of the night (I learned this earlier this year while in Dubai- I too took a 5 hour afternoon nap with the kids and they were up in the middle of the night).

Can the...

Here is Part 2 of the #airplanegame as told by my daughters. And it worked this weekend- we had such a smooth flight and naps!

Question- How can kids sit still on a plane? How can I get them to want to sleep?

Lakshmi’s Learning- As previously mentioned, preparation can play an integral role for a smooth flight. Here are my girls sitting on the “pretend airplane” at home.

Shyla repeats the rules from the captain (no screaming, no crying, no jumping, no kicking, and no whining— these are essential). Then my younger daughter Shriya says the critical line- “It’s time to sleep”!!! Guess she listens well to all the times I have said it.  When playing the game at home- integrate pretend sleep and it can translate to sleep on the plane.  Remember- kids learn routines just like nap time. Stay tuned for more from my girls where we will talk about airplane entertainment!