It’s the holiday moment you dread: a 2-hour delay at a packed charter airport, a cancelled ferry; tailbacks on the autoroute or a line round the block at the Uffizi. There’s only so far that shouting, begging and a game of ‘guess the next colour out the Starburst bag’ is going to get you.
Now help is at hand thanks to the Frommer’s With Your Family experts who have devised ways to help keep your children’s boredom at bay.
So the first gem is to anticipate delays and pack each child with their own little bag of pencils, travel games, charged up DVD players plus an MP3 for both music and talking books.
But, but, but… what if you’re separated from the carefully packed kids’ bags? Reach for an instant solution such as, on a plane, grab a copy of the in-flight magazine for an instant treasure hunt or if your flight is delayed start a game of airport alphabet.
A memory game can work anywhere and is perfect when you’re out to eat and the food’s taking ages. You can drag it out longer is you take in turns round the table.
And if you have to resort to guessing the colour of the next sweet out the bag, go for Fruit Pastilles. There are more varieties.
Jackie Violet