Long haul air travel with toddlers

Going on a long haul trip (as in 6h+ flight time) with a child aged 18 months to 3 years is probably one of the most challenging travel experience you can have as a parent. Obviously many of us do this but the difference between wanting to fling yourself off the plane and getting a few hours of sleep is all in the preparation. Check out some essential travel secrets for long haul trips with a toddler.

Here's our long-haul survival list (in order of keeping you sane)

#1 The most essential toy for air travel is a Doodle Pad. It's the most versatile, unmessy, imaginative and inexpensive toy you'll ever buy (you can get them for about $10). It's a true life saver as you can draw stuff, erase it and draw some more for quite a while. Most importantly you can use during take off / landing and when passing through turbulent weather (unlike some electronic gadgets).

Scotts Weekly Review - Safe and Sound Car Seat

This weeks product review is on Safe & Sound Car Seat, Pyper has just about grown out of her capsule, I'm a bit sad about that as it meant we had to buy another car seat ... so more money down the drain. But once again it's all about safety so there's no excuse really.

We got the Safe&Sound Car Seat as a gift and initially I thought "it's a good looking car seat". Here's what I found:



Pros

• Certified up to a weight of 18kgs
  
• Sturdy with lots of cushions and padding
  
• Pretty dirt resistant from what I can tell

Cons

• Needs hooks in the car to lock the seat in place
  
• Only reclines in the back facing position
  
• Quite expensive
  
• It has a 3 point (6 straps) harness - quite complicated to put on and secure

The dad life - happiness is ...

Happiness is:

Planes!

Being silly

Flying

Dancing with dad

Sharing food

Music

Dress ups

Having lots of balls

Bubbles!

The island of dad

(this is a collection of images I found on the web - if any of them belong to you please let us know so we can credit you or remove the image if you don't want it featured here).

-DIYFather.com

Indoor bowling DIY style

Here's a great game you can play with young children aged 18 months and up. It's your own version of 10 pin bowling except that you don't need pins or a bowling alley - all you need is a ball (any ball) and your little one's favorite toys (whatever they are in to at the moment). Here's what you do:

1. Clear some space on the floor (living room, nursery ... wherever you've got a few feet / yards of floors space)
   
2. Get a handful of your child's favorite toys and line them up in row
   
3. Grab a ball (e.g. soft ball, tennis ball, golf ball - whatever you can find in the house) and move away from the toys you set up - now roll the ball towards the toys to try and knock them over

What presents to give babies and young children (by age)

Non-parents or brand new parents sometimes struggle to find age appropriate gifts for babies and children. To make the present-finding process a bit easier, here's a table with suitable presents and gifts by age range.

Age range	Gift idea / suitable presents
Not born yet - 3 months	Resist the urge to give newborn baby clothes unless you know for a fact that the parents-to-be are not already drowning in baby clothes. If you can't resist at least buy clothes for older age ranges like 6months or 12months and up. Instead of clothes get any of the following as gifts (which you can never have enough): picture books, wall stickers / murals for the nursery, bath toys or nappies (if you want to be really practical).
3 - 6 months	Teething toys, bibs, floor mats (protective covers or to play on), picture books, baby gyms / activity sets or Lamaze toys
6 - 12 months	Soft balls, stacking blocks, cardboard books and flash cards, toy animals, dolls, shape sorters, bubble guns or bubble makers (shapes and bubble liquid)
12 - 24 months	Simple jigsaw puzzles (up to 20 pieces), play dough, crayons / chalk, doodle pads, simple musical instruments (e.g. maracas)
2 - 3 years	Story books, toy animals / action figures, jigsaw puzzles (up to 48 pieces), train sets, dolls and doll house, toy vehicles (trucks, cars), fancy dress costumes or accessories (like dinosaur tails or princess tiaras), large LEGO blocks (Duplo)
3 - 5 years	Children's kitchen sets, ball games, water color sets, kites, paper planes or toy planes, LEGO blocks, paddle pools, scooters and tricicles

With children 5 and up it's pretty much down to what they are in to at the moment. Find out what they really like - common themes include fairies, trains, princesses, Disney stories and characters, dinosaurs, animated movies and related characters.

Top child-friendly airlines in the world

Here's a list of top airlines and their child-friendliness (as rated by DIYFather dads). Send in comments or experiences about a particular airlines and we'll include it in the list.

Air New Zealand is the national carrier of New Zealand serving routes between Oceania, the US/Canada, Asia and Europe. The airline is part of the Star Alliance and cabin crew are generally quite kid friendly and accommodating. All AirNZ lounges have facilities or toy boxes for kids and you can use Star Alliance lounges (some of which have kids facilities) in airports where AirNZ doesn’t have a dedicated lounge. Air New Zealand hands out little game packs to children on board.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

China Airlines is the national carrier of the Republic of China. The airline serves destinations in China and routes to Europe, North America and Asia. The airline is part of the SkyTeam alliance so you can make use of SkyTeam lounges (some of which have facilities for kids).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LAN Airlines is the national carrier of Chile serving routes between South America, North America, Oceania, Asia and Europe. The airline is part of the One World Alliance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LOT is the national carrier of Poland and the world oldest airline in operation serving European destination and long haul routes to the US/Canada, Asia and Africa. The airline is part of the Star Alliance so you can make use of Star Alliance lounges (some of which have facilities for kids).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Swiss International Airlines is a Swiss airline (owned by Lufthansa) serving European destinations and routes to the Americas, Asia and Africa. The airline is part of the Star Alliance so you make use of Star Alliance lounges (some of which have facilities for kids). Staff are generally more kid friendly than staff at the parent company Lufthansa.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Air Canada is the national carrier of Canada serving routes between the Americas, Asia and Europe. The airline is part of the Star Alliance so you can make use of Star Alliance lounges (some of which have facilities for kids).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emirates is the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates which operates an extensive network of routes around the planet. The airline is not part of any alliance but has codeshare agreements in place with Japan Airlines, Korean Air, South African Airways and Thai Airways International (among others).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Qantas is the national carrier of Australia serving routes between Oceania, the Americas, Asia and Europe. The airline is part of the One World Alliance but also operates their own lounges in many key destinations. Qantas staff are generally very kids friendly and hand out ice creams and games to kids on the plane.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Singapore Airlines is the national carrier of Singapore serving routes between Oceania, North America, Asia and Europe. The airline is part of the Star Alliance and operates its lounges in many key destinations around the globe. SIA staff are somewhat less kids friendly than other Asian airlines however the inflight entertainment is second to none so kids aged 3 years and up are easily entertained. The airline also hands out little game packs for kids.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Royal Jordanian is the national carrier of Jordan serving routes between Africa, the Middle East, North America, Asia and Europe. The airline is part of the One World Alliance.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

American Airlines is a US based airline serving destinations in the Americas and intercontinental destinations to Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania. AA is part of the One World Alliance so you can make use One World lounges (although not many of those have special facilities for kids).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dads choice awards: top free iPhone apps for toddlers

Here's a list of top free iPhone apps for Toddlers. Surprisingly there are actually not that many (useful ones). There are lots of variations of memory games, flash cards and sound apps but by and large they are all the same. The ranking of the apps below is determined by votes (one vote per day max). You can submit any other toddler apps to get them included in the ranking.

Kids can match - animals
Well designed an implemented "memory game" (matching pairs) app for older toddlers (2-3 years).
-Submitted by the Secret Panda Society

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kids sing along songs
Nice little app with 5 common nursery rhymes - great for singing to your little one(s).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I here Ewe - Animal Sounds for Toddlers
Simple animal sound app for babies and toddlers (great for ages 6-18 months)

-submitted by Raquel

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shapes Toddler Preschool
Shape recognition app (and other quizzes) for older toddlers (18-24 months). Great for developing fine motor skills and hand-eye-coordination.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Toddler Flashcards (free)
The name says it all - an app that displays flashcards to prompt toddlers to say (announce) the object / concept they see on the screen. Great for traveling and you'll never ever lose a cardboard flashcard again or have it chewed to bits by your dog.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What to do when your child has headlice

It seems inevitable that at some point in your life as a parent you have to deal with headlice (one way or another). Most likely someone at preschool, kindergarten or school has them and you get a letter to say "check your child". Or perhaps you discovered your little one scratching their head a lot or noticed some strange skin irritation around the neck or behind the ears. Either way - it helps to familiarize yourself with this pest.

Headlice are tiny insects that crawl from head to head and may be passed on through shared objects such as hairbrushes, towels and hats.

Detecting headlice - what to look for:

• Check your child's head and look for small light or dark brown insects without wings (check the entire head but especially the back of the head and at the sides and around the ears).
  
• Also look for tiny whitish eggs (nits) like grains of salt attached to hair shafts.

DIY with dad - getting ready for Easter

Here's a great activity for dads and kids when you are preparing for Easter. Many families end up decorating Easter Eggs but to do that you need eggs you can decorate. So you can take the boring route and just buy some eggs in a craft shop. OR you make this task into an adventurous (and perhaps slightly messy ... but in a good kind of way) activity with the kids. Here's a step by step guide for blowing out eggs:

Preparation

1. Get some fresh Chicken or Goose eggs with white egg shells (shouldn't be hard around Easter)
   
2. Find a space that's either easy to clean (e.g. wooden floor / tiled floor) or put some plastic cover / old table cloth / newspaper on the floor. This is just to avoid any stains on carpets etc in case you break an egg or some of the liquid spills on the floor.
   
3. Grab a food bowl to hold the egg white and egg yolk (which you can use later on for cooking or baking)
   
4. Find some 2-inch nails, drawing pins or a high speed drilling tool and have paper towels within reach (just in case).

Blowing out the egg (you can also watch the video below if you're a visual kinda guy)

April Fools Day: practical jokes to play on your kids

OK it's time to get ready for April Fools Day so we thought let's put together a useful list of pranks you can play on your kids and partner.

Babies and Toddlers: well given that the irony of April Fools Day may be a bit lost on babies and toddlers you can just have a good old laugh with them. E.g. paint your face, user finger puppets or put a nappy on your head (a fresh one!!!)
Preschoolers: Find a piece of old / scrap cloth. Place your victim’s favourite toy or other item of interest on the floor and stay nearby. When the victim comes along and bends down to pick up the toy, rip the cloth ... yell out that your little one as just ripped their trousers.
Primary school children: Add a few drops of food coloring into a milk carton for a nice surprise at breakfast! If you have sleepy kids you can also get up a bit earlier and draw something on their face while they are still asleep.