Adventures in Attachment Parenting: Holiday Travel Do’s and Don’t’s by Allison Silver
Like many of you, we traveled to visit family for the holidays. Instead of blogging during our trip I decided to visit family, eat lots, and stick my foot in my mouth on numerous occasions! Here are my top three holiday travel do’s and don’t’s!
#1 Do: Tell your brother that his growing family is beautiful!
Don’t: Tell your brother that his 2 month old baby looks like a panda cub.
My brother and his wife had their second child on October 6th. They were blessed with a second girl. She is an absolutely wonderful baby. She is so easy going that I didn’t even think she was real half the time! Seriously, this has to be a stepford baby!! No baby is this easy going! In two months she has doubled her birth weight! There is only a two pound difference between her and my 14 month old daughter!
One evening we were watching the news when they showcased a five month old baby panda cub. It was absolutely adorable! Without thinking, I looked at my brother and said, “Look! It’s Cassia.” He was not amused by my comment to say the least. I had no idea how sensitive he was about his daughter’s size. I told him not to worry and that breastfed babies are never overweight. All babies come in different sizes. He appreciated my apology but I’m pretty sure I’m still in the dog house!
#2 Do: Support your father’s new career path.
Don’t: Tell your father that his new career choice is crap.
My father is an attorney and has been for the past thirty years. He has never really enjoyed it and has recently been looking for a new career path that would be more fulfilling. He has tossed around the idea of becoming a nurse and even took a year of prerequisite courses. During our visit a family member told me that he was thinking about becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). Are you kidding me?! Now don’t get me wrong, CNA is a hard job and having worked alongside CNAs in skilled nursing facilities I have nothing but respect for them. But this is not a job for a sixty-something man! This is a job for a young person while they are going to school.
Being the only person in our family who has worked in Skilled Nursing, I told my dad bluntly that I didn’t understand why he would leave being an attorney to pursue a crappy job. He berated me for not being supportive. I want to be supportive but he honestly has no clue what being a CNA entails. I apologized for not being supportive and said God Bless! Yep, dog house again!
#3 Do: Use a baby carrier when going through airport security.
Don’t: Put your flight information in your smartphone (Always have a hard copy!)
Getting through security at the airport is so much easier when you are wearing your baby. This was our fourth trip with our daughter and each time I have worn her and have had no problems getting through security. In fact, it’s so nice because I have both my hands free and it makes getting through the security checkpoint that much faster! During this trip I was particularly grateful that I chose to put her on my back in the Mei Tai when we got to the airport for our return flight. My hubby had put the flight times in his smart phone calendar and did not realize that the times in the calendar would adjust once we changed time zones. I had asked him what time our departure flight left about half a dozen times. He checked his calendar and told me 4:50 PM. The Albuquerque airport is a nice and easy airport to travel out of so we figured if we got there about an hour and a half ahead of time we would be in good shape. On the way to the airport our daughter threw up in the car, so once we got her cleaned up, said our goodbyes to Grandma (having your child throw up on the way to the airport makes saying goodbye much easier!), and checked in we learned that our flight was scheduled to leave in 25 minutes! What?? With hands free and baby on my back, hubby and I sprinted through the airport! I thought we were finished! There is no way we were going to make it through security and to our gate in twenty minutes! By the grace of God we did make it and so did our luggage. This time my hubby was in the dog house!! At least we are both there together! And we both learned that printing out a hard copy of your itinerary is the “smart” thing to do.
Tags: Airport security, Allison Silver, attachment parenting, babywearing, Holiday travel, traveling with kids, Visiting family
