Toddler homesick on trips

[kellyst]

i'll be taking my 21mth old to San Fran and Vancouver on a 10 day trip. mostly visiting friends and family.

she has been to Vancouver last Christmas, was all happy and ok. we took a short 3-day trip to Singapore a few weeks ago, but then she kept asking to go home. just seems like she really misses home.
last time in Vancouver she wasn't able to say home yet so i didn't know how she felt, but the last short trip made me worried, seems like she's not having that much fun on trips. she still plays and laughs and enjoys meeting strangers, and i try my very best to still stick to her home schedule, of course this one is going to be even hard with the time difference. but she just always asks to go home.

is there anything i can do to make her 'happier' on trips? any explaining to do before we fly? how do i explain that? i understand it's difficult for a toddler coz you never know what to expect. how do you deal with travelling with your toddler?

[syuan]

i know it's hard seeing your child unhappy, and heartbreaking to think that they're homesick. my son is the same way. we've taken several trips with him, long and short, and although he has fun sometimes, other times it seems like he's missing home. my daughter, on the other hand, doesn't have that problem. she's happy to be anywhere that i'm at.

when my son was around 2 years old, we stayed at his grandparents house for about a week. we would go out to the park or the supermarket, and then we would say we're going "home" now, meaning grandparents house, and as soon as we drove up to their driveway, he would start wailing, cuz he thought we would be going back home to HK.

i noticed that he didn't have a concept of time. so now, whenever we go on a trip, i tell him exactly how many days we're going. and then each morning when we wake up, i tell him how many more days are left. seems to be better, or maybe he's just getting older now.

good luck!

[rani]

We have this problem with D too and he's 5. Our trips have all been short, less than 5 days and to beach resorts with lots of activities for him. But nevertheless he still gets homesick and cries for his favorite toys, tv and of course our helper.