For some great travel games you and your family can play, take a look at Car Travel Activities for Kids at http://www.kinderinfo.com/articles/car-travel-activities.htm.

If you are traveling by car, plan in frequent stops and let kids run around. You may want to pack a jump robe, ball or Frisbee to make moving around more fun. If you are driving through night, plan a longer stop an hour or two before bedtime so kids can wear themselves out and release all this build up energy before going to sleep.

Instead of eating lunch at a fast food place or restaurant off of interstate, try bringing a picnic. You can cater to your family members tastes and it is bound to be cheaper, better and more healthy than what you would be able to find fast food place. Your kids will appreciate not having to sit still again and sunshine and fresh air will do wonders for all of you.

If you are traveling by plane, bring some small toys, picture books, coloring books etc, to entertain your child in seat. Depending on your child’s age, bring some gum, hard candy, zippy cup, bottle or pacifier to have them suck or chew on something during take-off and landing to equalize pressure in their ears. You may also want to pack a sweater for your child, since air temperature in plane can be quite chilly.

To keep your kids excited on longer trips, make up some small goodie bags for them. Collect some Kids Meal Toys for a few weeks, or purchase some inexpensive toys at Dollar Store and put them individually in some small brown paper bags, or even wrap them. Tell your kids that as long as they are being good, they will get a new goodie bag every 2 hours or so. You’ll be amazed how well behaved they will be, and you will keep them from being too bored on a long trip by giving them something new to play with.

Sherry P. from Miami, Oklahoma is a daycare provider and has been working with children for almost 40 years. One of ways she encourages her young charges to eat more vegetables is to let each child take turns at picking one each day. “Of course I limit choices to two or three – say corn, peas, or green beans,” she advises. “That way they feel like they have some control over what they eat. I also give them some choices that they can say ‘no’ to such as pickles or salads.

Being able to have a say in what they eat seems to help.” Sherry also adds more fruit to their diet by adding it to Jell-O, which they really seem to like. “Another thing that I do is to use meal times as a time to talk with each other. I ask kids about things that are going on in their lives and they do not even notice what they are eating,” she says.

Often, parents worry that if they do not prepare specific foods that their picky eater children like to eat, they will wither away. However, Dr. Karen Sadler, a pediatrician in Boston, MA, and panel expert at Baby Zone (www.babyzone.com), says that hunger is a powerful drive and young children will not starve themselves to point of danger. To help promote a lifetime of better eating habits, she makes following recommendations:

Offer your picky eater child a few nutritious food choices at dinner table. What is not eaten in 20 minutes can be wrapped up and offered as a later snack. Give your child power to choose, but from among healthy choices, berries or orange wedges, for example.

For more great picky eater advice, tips and even some great tasting, easy to prepare picky eater recipes... visit http://www.mypickyeater.com