Traveling can be stressful, and it is very possible that your picky eater will become more picky while on the road.

In order to ensure good nutrition while traveling, pack nutrient dense meals and snacks that your child is familiar with and likes.

Good examples are 100% nutrition dry cereals, apples and peanut butter, bananas, and granola or fruit bars. For on the road meals, consider cheese sandwiches, homemade baked oven fries, or cold cut sandwiches. If your packed food needs refrigeration, be sure to bring a cooler with ice or purchase on that plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter.

It’s also a good idea to pack a few of your child’s favorite treats so you can reward good eating on the road.

When dining at restaurants abroad, order from the children’s menu and let the child decide what they would like to eat. Take the time to explain to your child what each item is and how it compares to food they eat at home. Try to choose a restaurant that has an interesting décor. Country style and ‘oldies’ or historical themed restaurants might hold your child’s attention. Buffet style establishments may be a good choice. They usually offer a wide selection of dishes and your child can see the food before it shows up on their plate.

And of course, there is nothing wrong with the occasional trip through your child’s favorite fast food drive through to help encourage them to eat.

Do remember that some family members may take offense to your child’s picky eating habits. Members of the older generation, especially, tend to feel hurt or upset if your child will not eat the foods they lovingly prepared. Take the time to speak with family members before the trip to explain your child’s likes and dislikes.

Traveling with a mentally or emotionally challenged child has it’s difficulties. Your child may not understand why you are traveling, or may be bothered by the sights and sounds of the road or airport. Other people may react poorly to your child or be less than sensitive to your child’s condition.

Take extra care in preparing you child for the trip. Start at least one month in advance by talking about places far away. If going to visit family, play tape recordings of extended family talking to your child. Familiarity with the voices will be reassuring when you arrive at your destination. Talk about the upcoming trip, even in you’re unsure how much your child understands.

If you will be flying, try to get permission from your airport to have your child tour the airport and watch planes take off and land at least a two weeks before your flight. Let your airline carrier know your child has special needs.

If your child is calmed by music, be sure to bring a long a personal CD player or iPod. Allow your child to listen to their favorite music to help alleviate stress. Be sure to have lots of comfort items on hand.

Talk to your child’s doctor and any therapists about the trip. They will be able to give you ideas and suggestions based on your child’s specific medical condition and personality.

If traveling out of the country, make yourself familiar with the culture and customs of the area. As much as you may not like it, there are still places that are intolerant of those with certain mental illnesses or cognitive challenges. Your child may be subject to discrimination or even hostility in some areas of the world. In those cases, it’s best to leave the child at home with a trusted family member or friend.

American security requirements seem to change frequently. If you are a US citizen traveling the western hemisphere by air with your children, there area several things you need to know before you and your children leave the United States.

Starting January 23, 2007, most citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda will need to show their passport when entering or re-entering the US by airplane.

If traveling to or from the US from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, South America, Central America or the Caribbean you will be required to have your passport with you.

This includes children. Make sure you apply for your child’s passport several months before your scheduled trip. The official processing time is 2 – 8 weeks, but sometimes it takes longer.

When you receive your passports, be sure to fill out the emergency information page for all family members. Make copies of your passports and leave the copies with a trusted friend or family member who is not traveling with you.

You and your children should carry your passport on your body at all times to avoid loss or theft. Additionally, have your child carry documents identifying you as their parent or guardian. Include your name, passport number, local telephone number, hotel information, home telephone number and the name, number and address of an emergency contact not traveling with you. This way, if you and you child become separated, local authorities have several ways to contact you.

Parents should consider carrying a current photo of each child traveling with them.

You can purchase special pouches especially for this purpose, or make your own. The identification pouch should lie across your body in such a way that it can not be easily taken from you. Always wear it under your clothes, next to your body.

If your passport is lost or stolen while you and your family are traveling, you can contact your country’s Embassy or Consulate for assistance. However, obtaining replacement passports are costly and you may not be allowed to travel until you receive your replacement.

When traveling for business, it’s usually a good idea to leave the kids at home in the care of family or close friends. There are times, however, when you must take your children with you on a business trip.

When planning such a trip, keep the age of the child in mind and select a hotel that provides activities for your child’s age group and interests. Look for hotels that offer babysitting services, as well.

Before leaving home, find out if your company provides on-site child care for employees at the destination office. If not, check into daycare providers nearby.

You might also consider hiring a nanny or au-pair to accompany you and your child on the trip. While this is a more expensive option, you will have greater peace of mind and the child is likely to be feel more comfortable, as she will be spending her time with someone you have selected, as opposed to being left at a strange day care center.

Spend time with your child. Meet for lunch, go out to dinner, do some sightseeing, or take in a movie. Even though you are on a business trip, plan to do some vacation type things with your child.

Arrange for activities while you are working. Hire a local teenager, (ask local co-workers for names) to take your child to a local library or museum while you are gone.

If you travel to one work location frequently, you may even be able to share a local employee’s day care provider while you are there.

Finally, some companies understand the need for their employees to bring children along and have arrangements for the asking. Amenities like company rented houses, babysitting co-ops and onsite day care can make the trip more enjoyable for your child and more productive for you.

A pleasant walk is often the perfect way to see the sights on vacation, and most kids will enjoy the journey.  Just remember to keep the kids and their needs in mind while out for your stroll.

Toddlers will enjoy exploring at their level–poking in the dirt, pointing out flowers and spider webs, basically getting muddy and having a blast.  Don’t pressure them into hurrying up, just try to move along at their speed.  They’ll tire soon enough, and when that happens, a good baby carrier–especially a comfortable backpack–will almost be a necessity.

Preschoolers will also enjoy exploring at their own wandering pace, though some will balk if the path gets too rough.  Encourage them to find their own way over rocks and trees, and they’ll feel right at home.  They might even want to stop and splash through streams or rain, or collect leaves or pine cones.  A diaper bag with a change of clothes or ponchos might come in handy on these trips.

As kids tire, and grumble about sore feet, it might help to remind them of the cafe or ice cream shop at the end of the hike.

Be mindful of wildlife.  Insects might not appreciate the visitors, and larger animals might challenge the family for entering their territory.

Walks in town have their own dangers.  In some countries, the crosswalk doesn’t carry the same stopping power that it does in the United States, and pedestrians are expected to watch out for cars, not the other way around.  Make sure the kids are safely contained to the sidewalk and don’t dash into roads.

Sometimes, depending on the traffic or the local wildlife, the safest place for a kid is up off the ground, in a backpack or daddy’s arms, where they can’t get hurt or lost.

Hotel cribs can be a real time and space saver. With limited room in the vehicle and long hours driving, it’s always nice to arrive at your hotel and find baby’s crib set up and waiting. But, to ensure baby’s safety through the night, take a few minutes to make sure the crib meets safety standards before bedding your little one down for the night.

The crib should be assembled and set up correctly.

The hotel crib should be sturdy and not sway or rock when you shake it. 

If the crib has wheels, make sure they are locked.

Crib mattress should be well supported and fit in the crib snugly. There should be no space between the mattress and the crib walls.

The mattress should be firm.

If possible, check the date of manufacture. Very old cribs do not meet today’s safety standards. Older cribs are less stable, as well.

Make sure baby can not get her head caught in the slats and that the sides of the crib operate correctly.

Check weight limitations. Be sure your child is not too large for the crib provided. If the child is too heavy, it could cause the crib to collapse.

Do not put soft or fluffy items in the crib with your child. This includes crib bumpers.

Place the crib away from windows, where your child can not reach window blinds, cords, lamp or lamp cords, or any wall plugs.

For mesh or travel cribs, double check that the sides are in the correct position and locked. Your baby could get tangled in the mesh and suffocate.

Consider bringing your own sheets for a hotel crib. Your child will feel more secure with familiar sheets, and you will know they are clean.

Take the extra time to double check safety and  you and your child will sleep better.

A sick or injured child can turn a fun filled family vacation into a disaster. Prepare for the unpredictable before you leave home.

If anyone in your family takes prescription, over the counter medication, or supplements regularly, be sure you have enough on hand for the trip. You may not be able to find them in a strange town.

Remember, not all OTC medicines are available everywhere. If there is a specific brand of allergy medicine your child uses occasionally, take it with you.

For prescriptions, carry a new written script with you.

For each family member write down the name of the medication, the condition it is taken for, doctor’s name, patient’s age and weight. This is especially important for children. Keep a copy of this list in your luggage, another in your vehicle, and a third in your purse or wallet.

Keep the name, address and telephone number to your pediatrician or family doctor in an obvious place. Rescue workers will look in your wallet or on your cell phone first. To identify contacts in your cell phone as emergency numbers use the key phrase ICE with the entry. ICE stands for “In Case of Emergency”

If traveling by car, be sure to have a well- stocked first aid kit and reference manual with you. Cuts, scrapes and minor sprains can be treated with basic first aid. For broken bones, head injuries and more serious injuries, treat with first aid until you get to the nearest emergency room.

Always keep insurance cards with you, and make copies of the cards, just in case. Have enough cash available for one parent to fly home with an injured or ill child.

The odds are, you’ll never need to fly a child home because of illness or injury, but it’s better to be prepared.

Jet Lag leaves adults tired, cranky and many times, physically ill. For children the adjustment from one time zone to another is even more difficult. Young children, especially, are very sensitive to any changes in their schedules and react poorly to sudden time differences.

Avoiding jet lag for your children makes good sense for everyone.

If traveling by air, try to travel during your child’s normal sleep time in the new time zone. It is likely they will nap during part of the trip.

Push fluids. Keeping well hydrated will go a long way toward alleviating symptoms of jet lag. Water is best, sports drinks are good, but avoid carbonated sodas.

Avoid junk foods. Sugar and high fat carbs like cookies and chips will make blood sugar unstable and make your child more fussy. At the same time, try to keep the child’s diet as close to normal as possible.

Try to get your child prepared for the new time zone by adjusting their schedule gradually over a week or two before the trip. If this is not practical, have your child go to bed in line with the new time zone the day before the trip. When you arrive at your destination, let them nap, but keep them on the new time.

Physical activity will help your child’s body deal with the jet lag. Take them for a walk around the new city, a swim in your hotel pool or let them run through a park when you get to your destination. It will also help to let your child walk around on the plane often.

Parents should remember jet lag effects adults and children equally and that children are not as psychologically able to push past the physical effects. Children may need extra nap time for a few days upon arrival at the new destination.

What do you do when the unthinkable happens?  What do you do when the family reaches their destination, ready to begin their vacation, only to discover that the most important family member (next to mommy, of course) didn’t arrive alongside everyone else?

We’re talking, of course, of the Favorite Toy–the scuffed and battered teddy bear that shares the secrets and pillows of the toddler, their “bestest friend ever!”  When that best friend gets lost on the way to the vacation, what is a parent to do?

First off, try to reassure the child that Harold can indeed be found.  Then, if possible, take the child by the hand, retrace their steps, and hopefully Harold will be found, happily soaking in the sunshine beside the pool, right where the child left him.  If Harold isn’t found, though, that could ruin a child’s whole vacation…so, use a little bit of forethought  and make sure that doesn’t happen.

Kids should carry some sort of ID in case they get separated from their parents; that ID should have home address, contact phone numbers, and anything else that will help authorities return the child to their family as soon as possible.  Parents might consider using Harold to demonstrate just how important the child’s ID is—by printing an identical set for Harold, to make sure he finds his way home.

“Remember when we printed out the ID papers in your pocket?  Well, don’t worry, we printed ID papers for Harold, too, remember?  If he gets lost, he’ll find his way to someone and show them his ID papers.  They will see your name on his papers and they’ll try to find you at our hotel, and if they can’t find you, then they’ll put Harold on his own airplane so that he’s waiting for us when we get home.”

When you think of vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, seldom do you picture happy, active children enjoying vacation with mom and dad. But, that is just what you’ll find. Martha’s Vinyard isn’t just for adults anymore.

Younger children will feel right at home watching the ebb and flow of the Atlantic Ocean  from the lawn of Winnetu. Or, take your kids for a ride on an authentic 1940’s era fire truck.

While mom and dad explore the galleries, your kids will have a blast and feel catered to at one of the many programs designed just for them. From sports clinics just for kids to arts programs, Martha’s Vineyard has something to engage and thrill just about every child.

Children can even become a “Farmer For a Day on a self- sustainable farm. Kids get to tend to the crops, care for the animals and even attend a birth, if mom or dad say it’s okay. The Farm Institute also runs a week- long farm camp for children 4 years and up.

Your teens might enjoy having their own personal trainer. Or, maybe, biking paths and kayaking are more their style. Weather permitting, teens will enjoy gathering on the beaches, lounging by one of three pools, or engaging in a game of life-sized chess.

No teen hang out would be complete without get togethers, movies and video games.

Boat lovers will enjoy watching model boats racing their way around the turtle pond. There’s even short history lesson as steamboats show adults and children alike the early boats of The Vineyard.

Six mornings a week, mom and dad can take a private stroll as the children enjoy a morning of supervised play.

Martha’s Vineyard may be known as the place for a romantic getaway, but parents don’t have to leave the kids at home to enjoy all The Vinyard has to offer.