At Home Mums' Blog

Take a light hearted look at the issues faced by mums home with the kids. Read some personal views on the challenges of raising children today, and the pressures mums face. My website - www.athomemums.com - has some more serious and hopefully useful stuff on all these topics. I'd love to get your comments and advice. If anyone out there can help this mum maintain her sanity, it would be much appreciated!

Add to Technorati Favorites

Blog Search Engine

Saturday 7 May 2011

Flying with kids - coping with jetlag

We recently had a three week trip back to the UK to visit the grandparents. Having now had a week at home trying to cope with the normal day to day routine whilst suffering serious jet lag, we feel we need a holiday.

A friend questioned why anyone would actually choose to fly for 24 hours with children when there are beautiful holiday spots so close to home. I agree, but when it is our choice to desert our homeland and live thousands of miles from the rest of the family, we have to accept that a regular trip home is part of life.

Somehow, going over, the jet lag was not so bad. In fact for the first week, the children went to bed before 7:30 without a fight or a whinge or even a request for extra stories. Bliss. Coming back to Australia, they are also asleep before 7:30, but wide awake at 2 o'clock in the morning, ready to party. I am falling asleep in their beds reading bed time stories, and have accepted I have no evenings this week. I too am awake in the middle of the night, but for a sleep deprived mother I tell myself to pretend I'm having a lie in, and can quite happily stay there until I eventually fall back to sleep. Only to be woken again at 5am.

It won't last forever, I know, but it does put a damper on the holiday mood. Drugs have been suggested, as they were for the flight, but so far I have resisted. I cannot quite justify it, as I would be drugging my children in order for me to get a good night's sleep. For despite the lack of sleep, the kids still somehow manage to have their usual annoying amount of energy during the day. I was fully prepared to allow Holly home from school early several days this week, picturing my poor child falling asleep at her desk, but no. In fact, 3 days after returning to school she won the student of the week award for her class. She's obviously better in small doses.

Labels: , , , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home