Commuting With A Toddler

For most people this week will have seen them getting back into their routine which means that everyone has to be a little bit more organised as we all have to be out of the door with our children at some crazy early time. As some of you may know if you have read my blog for a long, you will know that I go to university an hour away from my house and commute on the train. This is something which common for some people because house prices are so high in York that it is cheaper for a lot of people to commute into the city.

Something which may shock you I take my two-year-old Jess on the commute as well the reasoning behind this is because I have lectures which start at 9 am and currently have to get the train around 6.30-7.20am depending on which station I get on at. If you have children who go to a private nursery, you may know that you can struggle to find one which is open before 7 am I think the ones around here there is only one of them which I know about. Another factor is that I can have lectures until past 5 pm and would have to ask a member of my family to pick her up which would make me feel like I was not part of her nursery experience. Whereas at the moment I can pick her up most nights and her Daddy works in York so can pick her up if I am unable to due to finishing too late.  

Of course, taking your toddler on the commute comes with challenges, of course, one of the first ones is that you have to make sure that she is ready in the morning which can be hard when she wants to stay at home and play with toys. Instead of getting ready for nursery which is not going to arrive at for a couple of hours but I think at the moment she is pleased to do it because they have a lot more toys there that I can ever give her at home. I know this is something which could change because at the moment loves going to nursery but over the summer when Daddy was away this is something which she struggled with.

Regarding being able to keep her entertained while she is on the train of course when it is bright which at the moment is it not very often, we can play games like what can we see outside the windows. We are lucky there are some different places which have animals on the side of the tracks so we know where to look for horses, sheep and chickens this is a game which Jess loves to play. Of course because some of the year like at the moment when we get on the train it is dark and this is not a game we can play we play peek a boo where she throws a blanket over her head and pretends that’s she can not see me which is always a fun game.Sometimes this can go on for the whole hour, and we have even had people who sit next to us join in.

Since she has gone upstairs into the big room singing is something which they do a lot more of so, of course, we have to have renditions of songs such as the wheels on the bus and old MacDonald. She does seem to get very annoyed if I get the words wrong I love been able to watch her grow up and learn more new songs some which I am surprised she can sing as they are complicated. Once she even got a random lady who was sat a few rows behind us kept joining in on the songs. 

Apps are another great way to keep her entertained at the moment she is still really enjoying playing on the Appelsin Town app which I reviewed way back in the summer. She has now learnt how to do more things on the app which means she is enjoying it a hell of a lot more than she was previously. I am always looking for apps which are educational for her I have an iPhone so it does mean that she can play on my iPad which means she does not drain my battery or use my data because for sure I know she would try and get on youtube or Netflix and watch either Peppa or paw patrol.

Do you commute with your toddler or frequently do train journey's how do you keep them entertained.

Charlotte xx