can i have your assistance for a short period of time Ive got a project in a class im taking which is to develop some kind of device based on a certain criteria. The criteria is that the device must be for parents with young children (under 10) who travel. The device could also be for the kids. Now what Im asking for is for those of you with young children who travel a lot, what kind of problems do you face when traveling with you kids? I dont necesarily need ideas for a device (though it would be appreciated), I just need to know what kind of troubles you face. This could be any kind of travel, and any aspect, like going for long car rides, to planning a plane trip etc. Some examples of the types of problems Im asking for are things like your child doesnt get enough attention on long car rides, or you find that your kid often goes missing(I hope this doesnt happen to any of you ). I appreciate any help you can give me
not enough non-commercial family friendly rest stops. oh, this would be a wonderful invention...a way to use a carseat in a vehicle that doesnt have seatbelts! like city buses or greyhounds
I have a problem with my kids dropping things, toys, sippy cups, etc. out of reach. Then I have to do the fun thing and drive while groping the car for the missing object. It's not so bad with my 6yo, but the 2yo doesn't really understand, "you're just going to have to wait".
When I was a kid you used to be able to lie down in the back to fall asleep on long car trips, now you have to be in a car seat until age 8 or so, strapped in. Of course, this is the safest but it would be nice for kids out of enclosed car seats, in boosters, to be able to snuggle in and nap.
My daughter gets carsick, which isn't fun. I think I still have little spots of vomit on my rear-view mirror from one incident. Also, because she does have to be in a car seat until age 8, when she falls asleep in the car, her head flops around everywhere and it looks like her neck is about to snap. Kinda like what someone else mentioned, they can't curl up and get comfy strapped in~although it is much safer to be in the carseat, I'm sure.
The biggest problem I have when traveling with my daughter is the lack of bathrooms, like nimh mentioned. It isn't so bad when flying, because there are lots of potties at the airport, but in the plane, the restrooms are so tiny that I can't go inside with her and make sure she is cleaned up properly. When we drive, in order to have rest rooms that are not in gas stations, we have to stick to the Interstates. It's ok, but you don't see much scenery that way.
At airports you have to take the baby out of the stroller, fold up the stroller and put it on the converyor belt and hold the baby and two backpacks and the blankie and the sippy cup and your purse and no one helps you do all this. Also it was very difficult to find a place to plug in the nebulizer machine between flights. Finding food for a kid with allergies was difficult. On our last car trip, Dakota just got so tired after a while. He was very good, but when he hit burnout he screamed at the top of his lungs. This is hard to take when you're exhausted allready. And you're right, dropping things in the backseat is impossible because they want it back and don't understand why you can't get it right now. Or they get mad and throw it at you and hit you in the head while you're driving. That's all I can think of right now. Kathi
i still haven't figured out how to nurse & drive at the same time. sometimes it takes a looooooooooong time to get someplace, since we have to pull over regularly. seriously though, the BATHROOM - sometimes i'm driving alone with the baby & i just have to stop, it's almost impossible to pull your jeans up & get them zipped while holding an infant.
You know what would be really great? A changing table for the car (it could attach to the back of a seat, or unfold like an ironing board or something). i can't tell you how many times i've had to change a diaper in the car, on the side of the road, because it was 60-something miles to the next town, and some things just can't wait, you know? Usually i and up putting the kid on the passenger seat (heaven help us of there is some sort of leakage, ewww), which doesn't recline far enough, so they end up sideways, legs dangling in the cold air. When our oldest was little, and we drove the Prizm, i'd lay a blanket on top of the trunk door (it was just the right height) and change him there, poor kid!
Yes, yes, yes!! Cars are in no way designed to change a baby in! Many times have I gotten poopy seats from a squirmy little girl.
THanks for the help everyone. I like this portable change table idea, the only problem is that the project is to design a computer interface for the device, and well, this wouldnt really need to be computerized as it is. So, would there be any other features that you would like to see this change table have that would require it to be computerized. Like perhaps some kind of automatic changer, so it would change the child for you. Thanks once again for the help
yeah!!! yes, please invent us an automatic changer! ok, well - now that you told us that it has to have some computer interface something, how about a changing table that has a sensor in it to measure the levels of antibodies/bacteria in poop. so we can see if our babies are getting sick. lol!! yeah, i one time had to change joey while he was laying on my lap - he was only 6 weeks old at the time, so i managed not to get too messy.
Or a robotic arm that grabs the stuff from the backseat If it could respond to rising noise level with surprising stimuli for kid that would be cool too...Interactive is good too ie if the child pushes the red button the arm picks up the dropped cup. H
Noise level...make a device that plays soothing music when the noise level inside the car hits a certain decible--this would, in theory, soothe little ones, and annoy the older ones into submission
I like this idea. THough, i was thinking more along the lines of something that would detect that the toy dropped either by sight or some other kind of sensor. Also, this arm could be used to smack children when they are misbehaving, allowing the driver to focus on driving instead of disciplining their children.
or better yet, it could respond to the noise level in the back seat by injecting mom with a little sedative hey, how about aromatherapy combined with the soothing music?
