When parents routinely take their business trips to the same destinations, it can make traveling with small children easier, as they have developed relationships with babysitters or daycare centers that they can trust. When a parent’s business trips are not routinely in the same destination, childcare can become difficult.

Pack Mindfully, and Remember Rules

Whether this is your first time traveling with your child or you’ve done it many times before, the best place to start for successful business travel is with packing. Make sure you understand the airline rules about carry on luggage. This means you will need to have the appropriate amount of items from liquid gels to baby formula. If all your items are packed according to their specifications, you will zip through their airport security without any problems.

Distract the Little Ones

Small children on airplanes can be a handful. This will be the time keeping them focused on activities is crucial. Keeping them entertained while they are awake will not only keep them out of trouble, it also avoids disturbing other passengers who are not tolerant of small children.

To keep them entertained, remember to pack distraction items such as small toys that are colorful, geometric and familiar to them. Having toys they know from home can help to comfort them. Older children should be included in their toy selection. Let them choose an appropriate toy or two to bring along. Buying a few new toys to surprise them with on the plane can also be a great diversion and occupy their time until you land.

Books Are a Charm

Books are always a distraction, especially picture books or coloring books. This is also a perfect opportunity to buy new books that your child has not seen before. When they are introduced on the plane, the books will be novel and of interest, keeping them occupied longer.

Encourage Creative Play

Shopping for creative art activities or any other form of interactive learning will keep their curious minds busy as well. Bring along items such as crayons, blank paper and drawing pads. Including interactive toys and electronic items such as DVD players with their favorite movies to keep them busy will also help to pass the time.

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Parents know that traveling with kids of any age takes some planning. Many parents start the planning process long before they even step foot out the door. If summer is your travel time of year, there are many great ideas to keep the kids entertained and parents sane during your family vacation.

Pack Accordingly

The first tip is to remember that younger kids do tend to bore easily so packing electronic entertainment and heaps of snacks is always a lifesaver, regardless of how you’re getting to your destination.

Travel by Train

For something different, consider traveling by train. If you’re heading to the family cottage in the next state or aiming to the coast for a resort retreat, look into getting there via train. Train travel is often overlooked as an option but should be considered because let’s face it, kids love trains. Taking an overnight train ride could make the complicated ‘getting there’ portion of your journey all the easier while providing a fun family experience.

Unique US Destinations

If this year’s family vacation entails staying close to home, there are numerous great spots in the US that are considered unique family vacation destinations. Try Omni Bedford Springs in Pennsylvania, which is a quick two-hour jaunt from DC. Not only is it easy to get to, the service is incredible, the food impeccable and the cost is very affordable for today’s families.

The Hotel Hershey is a resort park in Hershey, Pennsylvania and is another great family choice. Also easy to get to and very affordable, the hotel offers an abundance of activities and amenities on-site to suit all ages.

Escape the Familiar

Other summer travel destinations when traveling with kids are more exotic places such as the Caribbean. Most parents would not consider such a destination for summer travel, but when you have kids, these luxurious and often all-inclusive resorts are extremely affordable during the low season and also offer childcare rates so moms and dads can have a break too.

Grown-up Activities

If your kid is not exactly a kid anymore, perhaps a peek into a more adult vacation is a good start. Begin by taking them to a Broadway show, art galleries, or a white-tablecloth dinner for a little grown-up activity. Afterwards you can balance the vacation by hitting an arcade or beach of their choice to even out the activities.

Photo courtesy of Family Travel Colorado

It’s never easy for moms and dads to leave their children behind as they fly off for another business trip. These days however, it is more and more acceptable for busy corporates to bring their children along on such trips, regardless of the child’s age. With a little planning and travel experience, it’s very easy to turn a business trip into successful family time.

The Changing Face of Family-Friendly Hospitality

The concept of parents bringing along their children accompanied by either their spouses or a nanny has been an enormous success for both corporations and parents. As a matter of fact numerous hotels, including the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York, have added baby-type services to their amenities. Baby Attaches help not only the parents but also their little ones adapt to a new environment with the use of a multitude of practical equipment including baby-soothing chairs.

What it Takes to Succeed

When it comes right down to the success of bringing baby on business, teamwork is vital. Scheduling visiting times with the working spouse is important, especially for nursing mothers. A functioning schedule allows the nursing child to keep to their regular feeding routine while the spouses and older children get to spend some time together.

Pack Accordingly

Having a little travel experience with your children is also vital to the success of incorporating family with business trips. Make sure to pack light yet practical items such as clothes, diapers and toys. Don’t forget the baby’s photo ID in the event you are traveling outside the country.

Accent OCA: Your Partner in Youth Travel

For older children, check-in ahead of time with companies such as Accent OCA where kids can be scheduled into fun activities and group field trips. This allows them to make new friends, check out the area and enjoy a little independent time until their working parent is free for the day. Accent OCA is a great alternative when it comes to corporate childcare services as they are experienced with young children that require daycare up to students that are suited for field trips.

Bringing older adolescents and teens on these business affairs can be the beginning of new life lessons. These trips can be hugely influential by expanding their experiences to other cities and countries in a way they may not have seen otherwise. There is no magic formula to mixing business trips with family time, however there are many options available to parents want to give it a try.

Photo courtesy of Family Vacation Destinations

As the world of business becomes more international, more and more parents are taken away from their daily family lives to tend to the business needs of their jobs. For many parents it can be heartbreaking to leave their kids behind, especially if the children are very young.

Bringing Families on Business Trips

Companies such as Accent OCA have come up with a clever and creative way to have today’s working parents bring their children and spouses with them on these business trips. Not only does it relieve the stress and tension of leaving loved ones behind, it can also be a great way for kids to learn about what their parent’s jobs entail.

Planning for All Ages

When children and spouses are part of a business trip, all involved are aware of it, so there are no surprises. The extracurricular activities are planned with everyone in mind. This means the scheduled events are very diverse and have been chosen to accommodate all age levels of the group, including the families and the single travelers.

One of these relaxed professional setting environments is the Disney Cruise Line. Non-distractive conference rooms have been set up where business can resume and work can be done. Outside the conference room, once meetings have wrapped up, are the numerous entertainment offerings that Disney has for its guests.

This has allowed many time-starved families a way to accomplish business while still spending some much needed family time together as a whole. Planning such a corporate function that involves both families with the single traveler can be tricky, however Accent OCA is well versed in planning such events.

Limiting Complications, Maximizing Rewards

Accent OCA is aware that most corporate workers value the rewards they receive from time spent with their families that these corporate experiences allow them to share with both their spouses and kids. Although bringing along spouses and kids can complicate an already complicated meeting, Accent OCA works with the meeting planner to ensure all the company’s needs are met for complete productivity while, at the same time, they are setting up exciting programs for the kids.

Managing Liability

Aside from productivity there are other issues that remain a concern to those on the business trip, one of which is liability. Accent OCA stresses the importance of obtaining a release with a liability clause for each child allowing for emergency medical assistance, for example. Companies such as Accent OCA that participate in setting up the corporate family travel are experienced in these areas and will be more than happy to assist in your company’s needs.

Photo courtesy of Disney Cruise Lines

The city of New Orleans is a highly respected destination for adventure. It is also a popular business center for both local and international commerce. Many people who arrive in the Crescent City for business leave their families behind while they are away. Thanks to companies such as Accent OCA, it is not necessary to leave your children behind in the care of another.

Corporate Childcare Lets Children Experience Travel, Too

Corporate childcare is a well-received concept that has many benefits to today’s working moms and dads. Not only can they bring their children along on their business trip, they are also able to share the experience with their kids. During the day you can rest assured that your children are well taken care of and occupied with a multitude of healthy events. During the evening, parents are free to spend time exploring their business city as a family.

New Orleans for Kids

Even though New Orleans may have a Mardi Gras reputation, there are many great family activities to be had while here on business. Remember that Bourbon Street is only one street in the city and the children who live here are never bored or without healthy or appropriate activities.

Worlds of Wonder

Making arrangements for educational tours through Accent OCA is simple, so why not sign your kids up for a trip to the Audubon Insectarium? Curious minds will love to explore every nook and corner of this wildly popular insect museum. Both the Audubon Zoo and Cool Zoo Water Park are great places to spend the day, as is the Aquarium of the Americas where numerous aquatic life, including a 400,000-gallon tank, can be seen.

Love to Learn

If your kids love to learn, New Orleans is home to the Louisiana Children’s Museum. Located in the Arts District along Julia Street, kids of all ages can enjoy the many activities including piloting a life-size tugboat. The Outdoor Kid-Friendly Museum is an incredible display of accessible art that invites all kids, while the life-size boats and plans at the National World War II Museum is an ideal place to take in some real-life history.

Ride the River

Before you leave New Orleans a riverboat ride is a must. Floating down the mighty Mississippi River is a great way to see the city from a different perspective while learning about the surrounding history. If you’re able to do this as a family event, these paddle boats offer the perfect opportunity for parents and kids to not only learn, but to also enjoy the sounds of local jazz musicians while taking in a family dinner in style.

Photo courtesy of Molaa

Women now make up almost half of the workforce, a far cry from the numbers decades ago, when women only accounted for a fraction of the workforce. Many of these working women are mothers who are juggling the demands of work and parenting. Even dads are playing both roles, as they contribute at work and home. These changes have put pressure on companies to offer more programs that fit the needs of families. After all, when parents know that their children are being well cared for, they can be better workers.

If your company has a business meeting scheduled, there’s no reason why the kids can’t be invited. This allows more flexibility as to when the business meeting can be held, while also ensuring that all employees are at the meeting on time and stay for the duration, while being fully focused on the material during the conference.

But how exactly do you run successful childcare during a business meeting?

Staff Sufficiently

First off, make sure you have an accurate count of how many children will be attending the meeting. It’s important to have the proper staff-to-child ratio so that you can properly and safely care for the children. These ratios are based on the ages of the children and break down to 3:1 for infants, 4:1 for toddlers and 6:1 for children. Since you’re probably tapped out of staff members, hire an onsite childcare company that will provide dependable staff members that will tend to the children.

Keep Them Busy

When you work with an onsite childcare company, the agency will have plenty of age-appropriate activities that will keep everyone busy. This is, after all, the key to running a successful business meeting. You can expect such activities as singing songs, seeing a magician, putting on a puppet show and dancing around to music.

Plan an Appropriate Venue

In addition to the activities planned by the agency, you will need to have a room where the children can stay. Make sure the room is comfortable, has plenty of space to move around, is safe for all ages of children and has bathrooms nearby. While you want the meeting to move along seamlessly, it’s not a bad idea to arrange a few short breaks where parents can check in with their kids if need be. When your employees see just how much fun their kids are having, they’ll be fully invested in the meeting.

At first, your company may feel as if providing child care is difficult to accomplish. Yet thanks to onsite childcare companies, you can provide fun, safe, dependable arrangements that allow you to conveniently hold meetings away from the office, on weekends or evenings. The kids have fun and your employees come together without the distraction of ringing cell phones and text messages of parents waiting to pick their children up.

Image Source: guardian.co.uk

As mentioned in Part 1 of this topic, more and more companies are seeing the value of offering corporate childcare services for their employees. Doing so ensures that employees attend the event and that they are able to enjoy the trip with their entire families. But how can meeting planners make these types of arrangements? What should this type of conference include?

A simple way to provide conference childcare is to hire the services of a professional agency that specializes in this type of meeting planning. The company Accent on Children’s Arrangements based in New Orleans, Louisiana is such an agency. Offering childcare services for corporate meetings, conferences, and private events, this agency has an experienced staff, including a program manager that develops a unique curriculum for each group of children. Using this type of provider can greatly reduce the amount of work that a meeting planner will have to do to make arrangements for children of employees.

It’s also wise for meeting planners to select host cities for their events that feature lots of kid-friendly entertainment and attractions. Cities such as New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, and Orlando are packed with plenty of things that children will enjoy. Southern California, which is home to wildly popular amusement parks like Disneyland, Sea World, and Knott’s Berry Farm would make a great host city for this very reason. Just visiting these parks may be enough to provide entertainment for children of attendees.

Disney parks such as Disneyland and Walt Disney World also provide a wealth of entertainment and services for groups of children, including rides, live shows, meals, organized activities, and private parties. Meeting planners who select an area near to these attractions can contact the Disney customer service department to inquire about what arrangements are possible for large groups and if there are any discounts the group may be eligible to receive.

Resorts and full-service hotels may also be great resources for meeting planners. Some of these establishments in large cities offer kids’ suites, complimentary dining, kids’ clubs with structured activities and classes, recreation, and live entertainment. Many of these hotels and resorts may be willing to offer special activities for children of corporate groups or discounts to local attractions such as aquariums, zoos, and museums.

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Leaving children behind during business trips is a common issue for working parents whose jobs take them on the road. It can be an even bigger problem for professional meeting planners, who may travel more frequently than other employees. Feeling torn between work responsibilities and family loyalty can be difficult for any parent, particularly those who have to leave town regularly. The great news is that there are options for meeting planners who want to bring their spouses and children along with them on business trips. However, there are both advantages and drawbacks to doing so.

The possible drawbacks include the distraction that family matters may pose while the parent is working and the necessary supervision and activities parents may have to arrange to keep the children occupied during the day. It’s no secret that parents have to struggle to stay focused on their work, especially when a child becomes sick or injured. But that is a common issue for parents when they’re in their hometown, so most working moms and dads may be used to dealing with those problems.

When it comes to the advantages of bringing kids on business travel, though, there are many. For one, kids get to see the value of their parent’s work and responsibility. Sometimes children forget that their parents have more responsibilities than simply taking care of their needs. Seeing Mom or Dad contribute to the success of their company can help kids appreciate the work they do to support the family.

Another benefit of bringing the family along on work trips is making a frugal vacation out of the event. For many children, simply staying in hotel where they don’t have to make up their bed and where they can go swimming is a vacation. And if parents arrange for conference childcare services that include field trips and visits to amusement parks, the children can spend their days enjoying the city and the whole family can spend the evenings together.

One of the largest advantages of offering childcare services for meeting attendees is seeing the number of employees who are willing to come to the conference go up. Once workers see that the company understands the importance of family life and accommodate it, more of them may be ready to travel to the event.

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As work and home life become more connected, increasing numbers of corporate employees and conference attendees are bringing their families with them to their meetings. The challenge is finding activities that will keep young children entertained and occupied while their parents are attending work meetings or forums. That’s where meeting and conference childcare comes in. It gives parents a reliable way to care for their kids during their work events so they can bring them along and enjoy the time away together. Since meeting and conference childcare is a relatively new concept, prospective clients may have a few questions about this service.

What are the benefits of providing meeting childcare for employees?

For one thing, offering conference childcare makes attending corporate events more attractive for employees. This is particularly true of single parents, who may be unable to find suitable arrangements for their children in order to go out of town for a conference. Profit-wise, offering these services can also be useful, since companies may be able to attract child-friendly sponsors for their meetings such as amusement parks and restaurants.

Does this arrangement work for small numbers of kids?

Qualified childcare agencies can accommodate any number of children, from numbers as small as 10 to large groups of 100 or more. When meeting coordinators get a final tally of the employees that will be attending the conference, they can calculate the total number of accompanying children and inform the agency ahead of time. Most corporate childcare agencies do not require a minimum number of children.

What services are included in conference childcare?

Well-staffed agencies are able to provide a wide range of services for clients. From organized field trips to popular children’s attractions in the destination city to structured learning activities and supervised free play time, experienced business childcare providers can keep children happy and content while their parents are away. Some of the provided activities may include arts and crafts projects, games, and special guest speakers. Reputable agencies also provide security services such as photo check-ins and emergency management plans. Most providers also take the step of insuring their clients and children thoroughly, keeping the host companies safe from any possible risk or liability.

Image c/o: doviende

Planning for a kids’ holiday party is fairly easy, but when you’re inviting kids to a work party, the ideas become more challenging. Inviting the whole family is an excellent idea, as it allows parents to spend an evening with their children and not have to worry about finding – or paying – for a sitter. And this provides ample opportunities for employees to meet other families and get to know their coworkers on a more personal level.

Finding a balance can be difficult however, as you want to keep the kids entertained and under control, while still allowing for a formal holiday party for the adults to enjoy. Fortunately, a little planning goes a long way with these simple tips and ideas for holiday work parties.

For starters, have certain areas zoned off for the kids so that they can begin playing in one area, while the adults can congregate in another. For example, set up a table with crayons and holiday coloring pages and another one with wooden peg puzzles and blocks. Depending on where the holiday party will be hosted, you can also set up a kids’ corner equipped with bean bag chairs and books.

Once the kids are comfortable and the appetizers are being served, you can offer a more structured activity such as making Christmas ornaments, gingerbread houses or face painting. To ensure the safety of the kids and the relaxation of the adults, a few babysitters will be needed, so consider hiring an onsite babysitting service such as Accent OCA. They specialize in onsite child care and holiday parties and are a fresh addition to any holiday party.

To keep the party moving along seamlessly, be sure that there are kid-friendly snacks and foods such as cold veggies with dip, cheese cubes and juice boxes. To encourage family participation, have a few games for everyone to play. Since everyone will be in nice attire and you may be limited on space, stick to basic games.

For example, try a Candy Cane Race where teams will pass four candy canes that are placed between their fingers, teammate to teammate. Whoever completes the line without dropping the candy canes wins a prize. A Holiday Memory Game is another great idea and involves placing holiday-themed gadgets in a box and showing everyone for 30 seconds. Then everyone has to write down the contents in the box as fast as they can, and whoever remembers the most wins. Holiday bingo, I Spy and Holiday 20 Questions are other fun ideas.

If you’re having a gift exchange, have a gift unwrap relay. Or encourage a book exchange instead, where each family brings a book and leaves with a different one.  With so many wonderful ideas, it has never been easier to open up this year’s holiday party to employees and their families.

Image: Lotus Head