Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

5 hour train journey with 'lively' 2 year old. Help!

6 replies

innocuousnamechange · 20/08/2010 08:07

Tomorrow I have to take ds on the train for 5 hours. He is 26 months and difficult to keep still at the best of times. The thought is filling me with dread tbh. We are leaving at 6 in the morning so I'm hoping he will at least have a nap at some stage. But can anyone give me ideas of how to keep him still and occupied on the train? I am going to get some Aquadraw mats later and have already got a colourign book to whip out but I don't think colouring will do it for him the whole way. He is obsessed with trains so we are taking some brio to play with once we get there, I'm hoping maybe we will be sat at a table so he can build a small track on the way. Anything I haven't thought of would be massively appreciated and make the journey a hell of a lot easier :)

OP posts:
jooseyfruit · 20/08/2010 08:18

drugs? Grin

innocuousnamechange · 20/08/2010 08:20

For him or me? Wink

OP posts:
matumble · 20/08/2010 08:23

a simple game of i spy works quite well, ds can you see a sheep etc. colouring books are good, toy cars are good, do you have an mp3, 5 minutes of mummies music is always good, every now and then take him out into the corridor and let him run riot for a bit, obviously not deliberately getting in peoples way but a chance to burn off some steam. some trains have very large open areas near the disabled toilet, obviously if the space is needed its a no go but i find when they are free theyre a brilliant place to have little ones as you can pin them down when you need to but let them have freedom and play the rest of the time. plenty of snacks and drinks or the trolley will cost you a fortune in keeping him quiet!

i travel fairly regularly with 3 dd's 5,3,1 on 8 hour journeys, hope some of this is useful and if you have any other questions i will try to help

mousymouse · 20/08/2010 08:26

night garden magazine, stickers, paper and crayons. mp3 player with thomas stories, books.

innocuousnamechange · 20/08/2010 08:37

I have a new fancy phone, I might have a play with it later and see if I can get any distracting thingies onto it- it's an HTC Desire if anyone has some tips. Am going to be shopping for snacks and comics later. He isn't very easily distractable if that makes sense, we woudl have no chance at a game of ispy really, more's the pity. This is why I am dreading it. My dd is already there having gone in the car with my parents last week, and she's always been so easy on the train. Would just sit and colour for the whole journey. I am being a bit more challenged as a parent with ds Wink

OP posts:
mellowdramatic · 22/08/2010 22:56

How did you get on?

I usually take paper and pens, lots of small toys e.g. train, car, various animals, and an interesting picnic with lots of snacky things that you can bring out every now and then.

I did once see the worst case of parenting ever on a long train journey. 7ish and 3ish year old whose mother hadn't brought anything for them. She had however brought a bottle of vodka for herself - she chatted to friends the whole way saying "you wouldn't believe how bad these kids are being" and proceeded to smack her son for knocking over her drink when in fact it was the pendalino (sp?) train tilting that had made it fall Shock

New posts on this thread. Refresh page