The Indian Pacific is a rather long train (and fairly famous as far as trains go) that travels from Sydney on the East coast of Australia, to Perth on the West coast, over 3000 kms. During the course of my life, I've travelled on this train, in economy class, 45
times, for up to 16 hours at a time. I did it as a child with my grandmother, and I've done it a few times now with my kids - and survived! The most amazing part is, I'm not the only parent to have done this. My Grandmother used to take my cousins and I on this train, over 1000 kms, from Sydney to Broken Hill and back each year - and she coped. I figured I could to. I tried it and eventually succeeded.
I found that tiny babies end up spending a lot more of their time asleep than normal, as the perpetual slight rocking motion of the train seems to have a nice soothing effect on them. When they aren't asleep, they are quite happy to stare at the perpetually moving scenery out the window.
When they get a little older, playing peek-a-boo with the people sitting behind them becomes a great game for hours, and when that gets boring, they play peek-a-boo with the people in front. Then they babble away to the people across from them, then it's back to paying attention to the people behind again. It's the toddlers to 5 year olds that are hard to cope with, but it can be done.
The secret is what you take on board and your temperament. You will need; simple storybooks, puppets, a small battery operated cd player, spare batteries, a pile of children's music cd's, a good imagination, sense of humour, an endless supply of patience, a self-inking stamp, and a willingness to help out all the other parents on board with little kids. Oh, and the ability and willingness to negotiate with other passengers and the staff helps too.
Wait until your children are bored. This will occure about 20 minutes after the train starts moving, if you are lucky to last that long. Start with reading them a story. When that is no longer interesting, go to the 'point out things out the window game'. Can you see a kangaroo? Oh, we're still in the city? Okay, can you see a car? About 15 minutes later, once that gets boring, you'll notice the child a few seats back giving her mother hell, the family of 5 kids further back are raising up their own little storm, and the boy in front is starting to wail and wants to get off the train. This is where you take back control on behalf of all the parents and your well prepared survival kit comes into play.
Get out a storybook and a puppet. Read the story out loud to your children with a lot of emphasis, and animate the puppet. The more silly voices you can use, the more the puppet interupts the story and asks silly questions, and the louder you are, the more the other kids will notice, take interest and start to gather around you. Pay attention to them as they approach. Once you have most of the kids on the carriage gathered around you, suggest to the nearby passengers (using the puppet to do the talking will make them laugh and more agreeable) that they swap seats with the families so all the kids can be together. Most people will be agreeable. If someone isn't, ignore them.
From that point on, you have the attention of all the kids. Keep up with the activities. Different stories, puppets, games, sing-along songs, "what's that out the window?!" games, and get as much interaction from the kids as you can - even let them take turns in using the puppets. Coax other adult passengers to join in. It is possible to get a carriage full of kids, parents, and elderly folk to all sing along and clap hands together to "If you're happy and you know it"! If another adult has a musical instrument, such as a guitar they can play, they may offer to do a sing-along for a bit. If you can get other adults to take charge of singing songs, reading stories, and animating puppets, you can take a well earned break. If someone has a game to suggest, try it out. If someone offers to take over for a bit, accept!
At meal times, encourage all the kids to sit quietly with their parents and eat - everyone will need a break by then and will appreciate being able to eat in peace. After the meals, hold off as long as you can before getting back into the activities and games. Reward good behaviour from all the children by giving them stamps on their hands and verbal praise. Don't go offering snacks or food to other children. It is not your responsibility to provide them with food and drink, and you don't know what they are allergic to. It also stops any jealousy and fights over who gets what.
When the kids start getting tired, institute a "quiet time" where everyone goes back to their seats for a quiet rest. It might only last 20 minutes, but if you can get a 20 minute quiet time, it's better than nothing.
Sure, the commotion will disturb other passengers, but compared to the commotion that is caused by bored, miserable, misbehaving kids, believe me, most of the passengers will appreciate the happy noises over the alternative. It is tiring, but again, the alternative is worse. Don't be the least bit surprised if the conductor arranges for you all to move to a more suitable part of the train, especially if you end up with children from other carriages joining your party. That's a good thing! It means you are doing a really good job of keeping the kids happy.
Kids feed off the emotions of other kids and adults. If you can make some kids happy, you'll eventually get them all happy. Parents in this sort of situation feed off the emotions of those around them as well. If you can stay happy and cheerful, and you can keep the kids happy and cheerful, and you will also help keep the other parents happy and cheerful. The other passengers will then feel happier because they aren't having to sit on a train for hours on end with miserable people surrounding them. The more kids that participate the better, because they will entertain and encourage each other. Now of course if you are the only person with kids on board, you're very unlucky. The same tactics will still keep your kids entertained, but it'll be a lot tougher to keep it up.
This can be applied to any sort of similar situation, be it on a train, plane, bus (though because kids on a bus can disturb the driver I recommend moving your activities to the back of the bus as far from the driver as you can get), or even sitting in a waiting room. Even if you don't have all the necessary gear with you, just passing half an hour of time singing songs and telling stories, and using a weird little character drawn on your hand with lipstick for a puppet, may save a frustrated parent's sanity and make a few kids happy.
(August 2007) (
