Travelling
up and down and across the UK was both great fun and immensely stressful with a
two year old in toe!! Sleeping in different peoples homes, eating different
food at different times of the day, having to sit through another different
church service being admired by many different people is tiring enough for
anyone but when you are 2 years old it can all be a bit to much at times! But,
Rachel did cope remarkably well and due to her great outgoing social
personality she pretty much took it all in her stride.
Now having done the rounds of churches we thought we would share a few of our top tips for surviving the annual church hop with a little ones.
1. Travel when they are sick!! OK that doesn't sound so great but believe me, it is! Unfortunately Rachel went down with a virus days before we were due to do our longest journey from Kent to Kendal. 7 hours in the car was not looking like a happy prospect but remarkably, due to her being unwell she slept most of the journey. It ended up being so uneventful and very peaceful!
2. Always take them to the loo before you start to speak at the front of church. Okay this was a major error. As we were mid flow in our presentation speaking at St Paul's Church in Bolton, Rachel who was just pottering around our feet suddenly declared right next to the microphone "Daddy I need a poo poo!" Fortunately it wasn't too loud and fortunately it was my sisters church and so Aunty Esther ran to the rescue and whisked her off the toilets!!
3. Jammy dodgers. Hooray for mini snack packs of Jammy dodgers. Yes they were used the whole way round as bribery to ensure our darling 2 year old did exactly what she was supposed to do!!!! We are now mourning the lack of jammy dodgers in Uganda!!
4. Sticker books. Hooray another perfectly great invention for a two year old. They saved the day on many occasions where we just needed a little person to sit quietly for just 5 minutes!
5. Family time. On a more serious note we realised how important it was for Rachel to have a few days of family down time with familiar routines in between all the busy visiting days. This just allowed her to be herself and helped her to refuel in order to cope with yet another church service!!
Now having done the rounds of churches we thought we would share a few of our top tips for surviving the annual church hop with a little ones.
1. Travel when they are sick!! OK that doesn't sound so great but believe me, it is! Unfortunately Rachel went down with a virus days before we were due to do our longest journey from Kent to Kendal. 7 hours in the car was not looking like a happy prospect but remarkably, due to her being unwell she slept most of the journey. It ended up being so uneventful and very peaceful!
2. Always take them to the loo before you start to speak at the front of church. Okay this was a major error. As we were mid flow in our presentation speaking at St Paul's Church in Bolton, Rachel who was just pottering around our feet suddenly declared right next to the microphone "Daddy I need a poo poo!" Fortunately it wasn't too loud and fortunately it was my sisters church and so Aunty Esther ran to the rescue and whisked her off the toilets!!
3. Jammy dodgers. Hooray for mini snack packs of Jammy dodgers. Yes they were used the whole way round as bribery to ensure our darling 2 year old did exactly what she was supposed to do!!!! We are now mourning the lack of jammy dodgers in Uganda!!
4. Sticker books. Hooray another perfectly great invention for a two year old. They saved the day on many occasions where we just needed a little person to sit quietly for just 5 minutes!
5. Family time. On a more serious note we realised how important it was for Rachel to have a few days of family down time with familiar routines in between all the busy visiting days. This just allowed her to be herself and helped her to refuel in order to cope with yet another church service!!
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