Children & the 5 hour time difference.

[The King of Sheba]

Hello,

Does any one have any advice on getting children to adjust quickly to the 5-hour time difference in Florida?

We are travelling with a 3 year old & a 7 month old. I have visions of them waking at 2am local time (7am GMT) and expecting breakfast and not wanting to go back to bed.

I'm sure I'm getting worried over nothing, I mean it will be the same time difference for mummy & daddy as well, but just wondered if there are any tips or tricks to make it a smooth transition.

Thanks...Shane

[millie]

OK - not to panic you but when we took DD she was 20 months and she woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed singing Incy Wincy Spider at................................................ ..................4am!!![msneek][msneek]

We tried to keep her up as long as possible when we got there but to no avail.

I say just go with it! We eventually (when the sun rose!) went for a swim, got ready and set off for the Magic Kingdom. Its a great chance to see the opening ceremony as you are always wide awake! Then go home and try to stay up as late as you can!!!!

I would just try to keep them up as late as you can at nights for the first few to help them get used to the change. Young kiddies don't really understand time zones so I think its about all you can do!!!

Make for an amusing start to your home video! (Mind you the look on my face in ours is not pretty!!!!![msnwink][msnembarrased])
Lx

[pieman790]

We try and stay up as long as possible on the first night. We usually fly indirect via Chicago or Washington so we do not normally arrive at our villa until 9pm local time. Our kids (8 & 4) have a quick run around and are in bed for 10pm. They are up and about for 5-6am however we usually find for the first couple of days we are up at this time of day as we cannot sleep either.
If you fly direct and arrive mid afternoon try and keep occupied and go out for a meal at night.
It does take a few days to adjust but we find the kids are better at it than us.

[Paula D-S]

On the first morning after we arrived last summer our two girls were 10 and 4 and were up really really early 2am[msneek] although they very quickly get used to the time difference.
We did try staying up as late as our bodies would allow but I think in future we would go to bed as early as possible on the first night so we have at least a few good hours sleep.

Have a wonderful holiday.[msncool]

[jo-anne]

The best jet lag advice is to try and live as normally as posible to the time that you are in. When you arrive it will feel late for your body but in real time will probably be late afternoon or early evening if you have a daytime flight from the UK. So try and push the children on to their normal bedtime.
They will be desperate to sleep which is a good thing! To keep them in bed, black out the bedroom as much as you can. Villas usually have blinds at the windows which are great.
If they do wake up early, be as low key and quiet as possible and encourage them to just have a few more minutes rest - they'll probably go back down for an hour if you're lucky.
Your first full day will be very exciting and they will feel very tired so maybe have a quiet night in on that day and encourage an early night.
Children are very resiliant and they recover from jet lag very quickly.[msnsmile2]

[Steve and Dawn]

They will wake early and as you say so will you. Just go with it and take advantage of the early start to get a nice breakfast and arrive nice and early at a park. I think kids adjust very quickly. Our granddaughter did the same and she did nap in the afternoon.....which was nice....

[CCollins]

My friend always changes her watch the american time as soon as she gets on the plane - she then tells her children what the time is in american so they have a 9 hour flight getting used to the time difference.

She says it works for her!?!?

Having not travelled with young children I can't really help, but for me, I always find staying up late on your first night is a good idea, then be prepared for a very early morning on your first day as you are bound to wake up really early no matter what time you go to bed!

[allyjack]

We are ALL always awake at about 5-6 am the first morning. Usually take advantage of it and go to a park early and then come back late morning for a swim etc.
Takes us about 2-3 days to be back to normal. I find coming home much worse as the early mornings in FLorida are realy quite nice whereas late nights at home are not so appealing!!!
Alison

[pieman790]

I personally wake up early when i am on holiday in Florida and usually end up in Walmart at 6am leaving Cathy and the kids in bed. You can normally tell the British people from the locals as you dont normally see many locals in Walmart at 6am complete with kids doing a big shop.

[GrahamC]

We have always found that our boys adjust a lot faster than us. Yes they are up early on the first morning, but then we all are.

Try to have a really long first day, and you will find by day two they are almost back to normal.

Now two of mine are teenagers we have to use a crowbar to get them out of bed within a couple of days, just like at home.