Travelling with children

In order make your trip successful and avoid bad circumstances, you need to take into account a number of factors.

Documents required for the child

Documents required for a child flying with parents or with one of the parents

A child flying with both or with one of the parents in the Schengen area needs an identity document - a passport or an identity card.

If the child flies abroad with one of the parents, then at the border control point, officials need to provide only an identity document, but the written agreement of the second parent does not need to be provided. At the border control point, officials may ask for a child’s birth certificate if the name of the child is different from the name of one of the parents with whom the child is sent to another state.

Note. A child’s birth certificate is not regarded as an identity card and cannot be used as an identity document when traveling abroad.

Using a child’s birth certificate as an identity document during flight

A child’s birth certificate is not an identity document required for traveling abroad. The child needs to have a passport or ID if he is traveling in the Schengen area.

Documents required for a child flying accompanied, but without parents

If the child travels accompanied, but without parents, he needs the following documents:

passport or ID if the child is traveling in the Schengen area

written and legislatively approved (by a notary, diplomatic mission or consular officer) agreement of one of the parents and a copy thereof.

Note. The birth certificate of a child is not regarded as an identity card and, traveling abroad, it cannot be used as an identity document.

Documents required for a child flying with an organized group of children

If the child flies with an organized group of children (with a guided tour, sports, art, science trip, or with other groups), he needs a document confirmed by the signature and seal of the travel organizer, with a list of the names of the traveling children and their accompanying persons, as well as a copy of this document . The list with names, a copy of it and parental consent (if the trip is not in the Schengen zone) must be with the organizer of the trip.

It is important. Airlines reserve the right to ask their parents to show agreement at any time.

All clients are advised to have a notarized parental agreement with them if the child is flying without parents or with one of the parents.

Validity of identity documents

Documents proving the identities of children have a shorter validity period than documents of adults (2-5 years), therefore it is recommended to check the validity of documents before traveling. Documents must be valid throughout the trip. Documents whose validity expires during the trip are considered invalid.

Documents required for the child returning back

When returning to Belarus, it is sufficient for a child who is a citizen of Belarus to have a passport or an identity card (an identity card is valid only in the Schengen zone). Other agreements and documents are not needed, even if the child returns to the country without parents.

Can a child who has a visa travel alone?

If you need a visa, then children and infants can travel only with the adult indicated on the visa.

Which vehicle is better to choose?

Thanks to the established transport links, now it’s quite easy to get to another country. Depending on the distance and terrain, you can choose a different type of vehicle, which is better to get to a certain place.

For example, car owners often prefer to travel on this particular type of transport. This option is great for those who want to ride in comfort, while spending money only on gasoline. Another transport option is the bus. This type of transport is quite common among those travelers who want to save money, and at the same time they are ready to spend most of their time in a sitting position. In addition, modern bus models are equipped with comfortable chairs in which you can not only sit, but also sleep. The only minus of this type of transport - the road can take up to a day, especially if you need to move long distances. For lovers of a comfortable and convenient stay, trains are ideal. This type of vehicle is equipped with special places where you can not only sit, but also sleep. The only drawback is that the trip can take several days.

Do not forget about the fastest, but at the same time the most expensive form of transport - the plane. This option is perfect for those travelers who want to go to another country where there is no way to get by land mode of transport.

The only minus of air transport is the rather high price of air tickets. Modern airlines are trying to correct this situation, so low-cost airlines are now popular, which sometimes come at the price of a bus or train ticket.

How to make the trip of a whole family comfortable?

To choose the right vehicle, consider the following factors:

The distance to the desired location.

The financial side of the issue.

Comfort and convenience.

Availability of necessary tickets for the indicated direction.

What should you do if my child is sick or why do you need medical insurance?

Traveling abroad is an infrequent phenomenon in the life of an ordinary family: they are waiting for him, preparing for him. Well, if the trip goes as planned. Children are especially susceptible to the new: they will retain their impressions of foreign cities and seas for life. But what if the child was interrupted by a trip?

What does insurance give? Confidence and knowledge: neither you, nor the child, even abroad, will not be left without the support of a qualified doctor. Usually, insurance is already included in the cost of a tour. Before you buy it, it is important to familiarize yourself with the proposed contract. What is understood as an “insured event”? What are the terms of the contract? Read the document from start to finish. Feel free to ask questions. The standard policy often includes only emergency medical care. That is, doctors will try to prevent a fatal outcome: they will examine, prescribe medications, and operate, if the case is urgent. Will this suit you? Once again - carefully study the conditions.

Acclimatization

Acclimatization is the process of adaptation of an organism to new conditions arising from changes in environmental conditions. It is always temporary and manifests itself only in short-term physiological shifts.

Symptoms of acclimatization

The specificity of the acclimatization process depends not only on external climatic factors, but also on the individual characteristics of the body.

Children, as well as people with chronic diseases of the cardiovascular, bronchopulmonary systems, and people of an older age group are especially sensitive to changes in climatic conditions.

The main symptoms of acclimatization: loss of appetite, instability of the emotional state, drowsiness or insomnia, disorders of the gastrointestinal tract: diarrhea or constipation, nausea, exacerbate chronic diseases, impaired water-salt metabolism, which leads to increased heart rate, breathing, increased sweating, symptoms respiratory viral diseases.

Acclimatization treatment

Acclimatization is not as terrible as its parents imagine. The period of adaptation largely depends on the state of the immune system. If in infants it is difficult to predict the reaction of the body to climate change, then older children can and should be properly prepared. It will help to facilitate and accelerate the acclimatization of compliance with simple clear rules:

travel is recommended to start at short distances without sudden changes in temperature;

for the first trips, places where the climate is not very different from the usual and there are no sharp jumps in winter / summer are suitable;

observe the usual daily routine, gradually transfer the child to a new schedule two to three weeks before the proposed trip;

if the child is prone to infectious diseases, choose sparsely populated resorts and non-hot countries;

travel with absolutely healthy children: even slight signs of malaise are a reason to cancel the trip;

feed your child familiar products, especially in the first three to five days of stay at the resort;

stock up with bottled water of the usual composition: take it from home or buy a familiar brand;

plan a flight at a convenient time: it is better in the afternoon or in the evening, so that after arrival you can fully relax;

a month before the trip, take a course of vitamins, consult a pediatrician about maintaining the baby's immunity;

at the beginning of the rest, exclude any stress, stressful situations and strong feelings.

Also, postpone your visit to children's clubs, excursions, and amusement parks for the second half of your vacation; do not force the child to eat and sleep; during the first days of your stay at sea, limit the time for swimming and sunbathing. Always spend active sunshine in your room or in the shade of nature. And one more important rule: rest in a different climate should last at least two to three weeks. During this period, the body of children and adults has time to get used to new conditions and get the maximum benefit. Staying at the resort for seven to ten days not only does not give the desired result, but also exerts an increased load on the immune system.

How to help your child get used to changing time zones?

All living things are subject to certain natural rhythms, and man is no exception. The periods of sleep and wakefulness in humans are replaced with circadian intervals. One of the most effective external signals supporting a 24-hour cycle is light.

A person “tunes in” to local time: in the region of 19–20 hours, the body's production of the sleep hormone melatonin increases, it reaches a maximum after midnight, and decreases after 4 hours in the morning. At 4-5 in the morning, the level of “activity hormones” of cortisol and adrenaline rises, the body begins to prepare for awakening. Night sleep is also heterogeneous: in the first part of the night, deep sleep predominates (hence the recommendations for non-sleepy adults to go to bed before midnight), and in the morning - a quick and shallow sleep, easier, from which it is easy to wake up.

That is why changing the time zone becomes a serious burden on the body. Our "internal chronometer" gets off. This condition is characterized by digestive disorders, headaches, irritability, and sleep problems. The dream becomes sensitive, shallow, in the evening a person falls asleep with difficulty.

The time difference of 2 hours or less is not significant and does not require any preparation. You just adjust the baby's regimen in place. A time difference of 4 hours or more is considered critical.

Daily rhythms of children

The formation of circadian rhythms of babies is observed by 4 months, and their stable appearance, as a rule, by 10 months. This means that a child under 4 months of age will not especially notice a change in time zone, its adaptation will be very fast. A child of 4–10 months will endure a change of time zones much easier than an adult. If full synchronization with the time of another belt in adults usually takes about two weeks, then in children under 10 months - 3-5, maximum 7 days.

Preparation for a regime change

It is better to prepare children for regime change in advance. A couple of weeks before the trip, begin to gradually shift the time to fall asleep and rise to the right side: if you plan to fly to the west, start to go to bed and get up a little later, if to the east - earlier. Shifting the regime, it is necessary to take into account the daily norm of a child’s sleep and the distribution of sleep on day and night. That is, changing the time of evening laying and morning rising, shift and daytime sleep / dreams.

Avoid the situation when the baby compensates for the lack of sleep due to a very long daytime sleep!

How to shift the regime?

For example, you need to shift the evening laying and morning rise to a later time. You put the baby in the evening with the usual ritual, but 15-20 minutes later than usual. In the morning, most likely, the child will wake up at the usual time, which means that he will already have a slight lack of sleep. You do not allow too much daytime sleep so that this lack of sleep is not compensated, and in the evening you lay the child in a new time. Most likely, after two or three nights the child will get up in the morning a little later.

If your baby is very active, easily takes a walk or the “window to sleep” opens very briefly, shifting the regime may be better not for 15 minutes, but for 5-10 - you need to focus on the child’s reaction.

But keep in mind: if your baby always gets up to his own, at the same time in the morning (this is especially true for children up to a year and a half), this method may not work.

Photo: piligrim.ua, ota.by, mir-da.ru.