Working Traveling Mom

If you have ever got your kids for a long drive, you will know that kids are very difficult to manage on these trips. It is up to the parents to find the right ways to keep your children’s engaged in different tasks. If you are wondering how, here are some ways you can keep your children busy when you are on a road trip.

Turn your back seat into a movie theatre

If you are travelling with your kids, this is one of the best things to do. You can turn your back seat into a movie theatre for your kids. Try to make some popcorn and watch a movie together. Also, you can introduce them to some of their favourite movies. This is one of the best ways to keep them occupied and give you some peacetime.

Bring kid-friendly audiobooks

If you do not want to keep your children engaged only with the movie, you can also bring audiobooks which can keep them occupied. Try to get something that they like and make sure that there are a bunch of stories which is silly and fun for even babies.

Download versatile apps

Kids have a short attention span, and it is difficult for a kid to stay occupies with just one app. Try to keep them entertained with a lot of different apps. Make sure that you bring a lot of apps which they can enjoy when they are bored with one app.

Turn snacking into an activity

This is one of the best tricks to make sure that your child can enjoy their snack time. This is a good skill which will ensure that you have them practice fine motor skills. This is one of the best ways to keep them engaged and also make sure that you have some fun on the trips as well.

Try Road trip Bingo

 If you are going on a super long trip, this is one of the best tricks to keep in mind with music and movies. Try to mix up the whole scene by adding in games like trip bingo or trying to spot a police car, aeroplanes, etc. This is one of the most interactive ways of ensuring that you stay competitive while having fun.

Play educational games

You can even homeschool your kids during the trip. This is one of the best ways to ensure that your kids are having fun and also learning without even them realising it. Try to give them easy access to all of the favourite markers, colour books and worksheets which can help ensure that they can enjoy the trip as much as you do.

Do children and museums mix? They do when it’s the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, a three-story building on Pittsburgh‘s North Side. The building connects historic buildings in the city: the Allegheny Post Office Building and the Buhl Building, and is adjacent to Buhl Community Park (I’ll tell you more about that in a bit — first, the museum). My four-year-old son and I attended the museum as part of a media tour of kid-friendly Pittsburgh (aka Kidsburgh). Just behind the museum’s registration desk is the Limb Bender, a wall of wide stairs that kids kids climb up (and down). My son loved climbing up as far as he could, as did the handful of other kids who were at various stages of height inside of it. Next we went to the Nursery, a section set up for younger visitors (babies to toddlers) with bright, interactive exhibits made for little hands to play with. My son is obsessed with trains (notice the Thomas the Tank engine t-shirt?) and couldn’t walk past this train table without stopping to play. Further inside the Nursery, there were light tables with colored sand and brushes, where kids could make patterns and designs in the sand. My son loved playing with the colored sticks on what looked like a giant Lite-Brite. Next we headed for the Garage, where we found a full-size replica of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Trolley – and a table with parts to make a much smaller version of the trolley. Fred Rogers’ legacy is felt throughout the museum. A Pittsburgh icon, he was involved with the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh since its inception as an advisor, a mentor, and a friend. His message is also posted throughout the museum — a fantastic reminder of the importance of just being a child. By now we’d worked up an appetite, so my son and I walked over to the Big Red Room Cafe. It was a little too warm for the outdoor patio, so we ate in the cafe — but not before washing our hands in this adorable (and literal) water closet. I ordered a grilled chicken wrap and my son had pizza and chocolate milk. My wrap was served warm and the soft pita bread could barely contain all the fresh vegetables — something you don’t always find in children-focused attractions. It was nice to see healthy options on the menu. Ready for more, we went to the Studio, an interactive art area for kids of all ages. We saw kids gathered around a table making things with clay, a museum worker teaching a group of kids how to screen print, and kid-sized easels where children could finger paint or draw. Out the back doors of the Studio is the Backyard, where kids can swing on swings that activate music from the movement, climb up a clubhouse with solar panels on the roof that power its LED lights, and play in a huge sandbox.

When was the last time you spent an evening with just one kid? I’ve spent time with my daughter, having tea with Hello Kitty and even traveling to LEGOLAND Florida, but time with my son has been sparse. We recently had a chance to change that, by way of a media tour of Pittsburgh. The tour included an evening out at the city’s the Southside Works, a former brownfield turned entertainment complex. We began with dinner at the Hofbräuhaus Pittsburgh, the city’s first authentic Hofbräuhaus – modeled after the legendary 400+ year-old Hofbräuhaus in Munich, Germany. We sat on the patio, with great views of the Monongahela River and even better food. I ordered the Schnitzel Weiner Art, a breaded and fried pork cutlet, which came with cranberry sauce, German potato salad and fried cabbage. My son happily ate chicken fingers from the children’s menu. But the most fun was the entertainment. The restaurant has nightly entertainment (and a quiet dining room for those who want a quieter meal – the main dining room can get loud); the night we dined, a n accordion player stopped at each table to play music. The kids ate it up – and the grownups enjoyed the music too. After dinner, we walked two blocks to the Town Square, the heart of the Southside Works and surrounded by many restaurants and a movie theater. But we were just there for the fountains. It was a thankfully warm evening, because my son must have soaked up a gallon of water on his own, splashing and playing in the fountains.

It never fails — you’re getting ready to leave on a trip (be it business or fun) and suddenly the throat gets scratchy. Maybe there’s a cough or two, or sneeze. But it’s not you who’s getting sick — it’s your child. What’s a parent to do when a kid get sick — and that same parent has travel plans? Being a working mom who travels for work, most times I don’t have much of a choice but to go anyway. Here’s how I cope with leaving a sick child behind. Call home I check in often with my husband, keeper of the kids, to see how everyone’s faring. Most of the time, he has things under control. I’ll then chat with the kids on the phone if they’re awake and up to it. Call in reinforcements I’ll also call in nearby friends and family and ask them to help out, or to be on call in case my husband can’t, say, get to the store for more juice. It takes a village, right? This is especially true when a kid is sick. Leave some treats behind If I have enough time, I’ll bake a special treat for everyone to enjoy (whether someone’s sick or not) — a fresh loaf of bread, scones or even cookies. Bring something back I’m notoriously bad at this one, bringing souvenirs back for the kids. Thankfully, they don’t expect me to bring back gifts — although they certainly don’t hate it when I do. But when I know someone back at home isn’t feeling their best, I try to bring them back a little something to brighten their day, such as some stickers or a toy from my travels.

Summertime means spending time outdoors; without a huge backyard for the kids to run around, my husband and I often take the kids to local parks or the botanical gardens. We recently spent a warm Saturday afternoon cooling off at Nichols Arboretum in Ann Arbor, where I was able to get in a little cross training as part of my half marathon training, and the kids could run around to their hearts’ content. Growing up in Ann Arbor, I’ve been to the Arb many times. The Arb was a 123-acre gift to the University of Michigan for use by students and the local folk, as explained in this handy plaque. Just past the iron gates is a path that eventually leads to the Huron River. My kids love to run ahead and follow the path, chasing down the random squirrel or bird that lands in their path. A little further down the path is a scenic overlook, with views of the interior parts of the Arb and the University of Michigan campus From there, you can follow the path or take a turn and descent a multitude of stairs to get to the lower part of the Arb. This time, we took the stairs — with the intention of climbing back up the stairs as some sort of  cross-training activity. And then up, and up, and up some more …  until finally reaching the overlook. Legs burning, it was time to go back down and find my family, then make our way to the river. We found it, and were surprised to see how many boaters were out that day. A steady stream of canoes and kayaks made their way along the river, passing the benches and stairs where people were sitting and watching the river. The kids, of course, quickly tired of watching the boaters and decided to go into the water themselves. While it might have been a warm and sunny afternoon, the water was still chilly. That didn’t stop them from going nearly knee-deep in it, though. We sat down and had a snack, and the kids had their eyes on this train bridge, hoping to see a train or two pass by. (No such luck.)

Chicken fajitas can be a surprisingly easy weeknight meal — and I don’t mean by trekking out to your local Mexican restaurant. In about 20 minutes, you can be filling tortillas (a little longer if you make your own tortillas) with sizzling hot chicken and peppers and enjoying a homemade meal. Don’t worry if you don’t own a wok ; a large skillet (preferably cast-iron or nonstick) works, too.

Chicken Fajitas Recipe

Ingredients: 1 lb. diced chicken breast 2-3 bell peppers (I usually use three – a combination of red, orange and yellow) 1 onion Fajita seasoning (see below or use store-bought) Sour cream, guacamole or fresh cilantro (optional) Heat wok or skillet to medium heat. Combine chicken and fajita seasoning, and set aside. Slice peppers and onion into strips. Add chicken and veggies to the wok and cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink. Serve in tortillas and top with sour cream, guacamole or fresh cilantro as desired.

Fajita Seasoning

Ingredients: 2 tsp. chili powder 1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 2 tsp. garlic powder 1 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. cayenne pepper 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper 2 tsp. dried onions