Sightseeing in Kerala with chldren

Some of the beautiful locations in Kerala where we can visit and spend a day. I will keep updating this as and when I can.

Asuran Kund dam is a scenic place in Attur/Akamala/Thonnurkara, about 30km from Thrissur town. Pristine location, deep forest closeby and a good destination both for a family picnic and/or an adventure trip. The guards have done a commendable job of keeping it plastic and litter-free.

       

                                       

                                                    

Ilaveezha poonchira is a wonderful place with great breeze. Good for light trekking- not very exhausting.

(Ref: Wikipedia) "Ila-veezhaa-poonchira" means 'the pond of flowers where the leaves do not fall'. During the monsoons, the valley between a complex of mountains fills up to form a large pond. According to a legend, the Pandava had a sojourn here during their life incognito. Their wife, Draupadi, came to take a bath at a lake, which was present at that time. Some devas, bewitched by her beauty, tried to satisfy their voyeuristic itch. King of devas, Lord Indra, came to know about what was going on, and built screens or hills heaping flowers and prevented them from indulging in such a practice. And the pond thus became a dam isolated by floral hills. Since there were no trees around the bund, it was always free of leaves and so it was called Ila-veezha-poonchira. Some say that the name comes from the fact that it is always windy at the place and hence the leaves are carried away. Poonjira's myth is closely related to Agastya and his hermitage,he lived here and the native people believes that he still lives here,his hermitage is hidden in somewhere here. Another important attraction is the ancient krishna temple, that was founded by panjaly herself.the mass belief is that panjaly's akshayapatra is hidden here and it is protected by agastya.The myth is also associate with ramayana his vanavasa popularly believes that he lived here with lakshmana for few months. Ilavvezha Poonchira is located 55 km from Kottayam, and is 20 km from Thodupuzha. Melukavu is the highest part of the kottayam district.

Poomala Dam is an irrigation purpose dam and a tourist spot situated in Mulankunnathukavu Panchayath under Puzhakkal block inThrissur, Kerala. Pomala is a tourist attraction and Cheppara is a nice, light, trekking area.

Thrissur has no scarcity of dams. Chimmini Dam and Vazhani are beautiful locations. Vazhani is a good place to spend a half-day. Chimmini can be best explored in bamboo rafts arranged by the Tourism Department- https://www.keralatourism.org/destination/chimmini-thrissur/57

Shopping with kids in Kerala

How blissful it was when you could shop freely, look at each product label with care, read it all and decide what to buy, without looking every other second where the little bundle of energy who came with you ran off to! Yes, shopping with kids can be crazy, shopping with triplets- downright scary! If it is a retail shop, it is okay, but if it is a mall, the kids run around the whole place, knocking over things, take stuff ranging from chocolates to sanitary napkins off the rack or off the shopping carts of other shoppers who might not find it amusing. And then the tantrum if they find something extremely attractive and you refuse to buy it. Finally somehow you just get out of the shop, half the things in the shopping list still remaining to be bought, half of what is bought not according to the brands you wanted, and you realize that half the things in the packets are totally not of the list, which you bought anyway because your kids were making all sorts of tantrums. 

This is especially tough in Kerala because there are not many malls which offer play areas for children, or even a comfortable sitting space where either dad or mom can sit with the kids and manage them while the other can shop peacefully.

However, there are a few shopping malls in Kerala where there are kids play areas.

Abad Nucleus Mall in Maradu, Kochi has B-ActiveKidz- a nice little play area for children, where parents can leave children for half an hour or one hour. It is a large room with lot of play equipments to occupy the kids, and there is a small area filled with balls which my kids love. There are a few staff to look after the kids. The area and the toys are safe for play. Parents leave kids of age ranging from 1-2 years to ten years. There is a fee of Rs.250/- per child per hour. You need to make sure that the child does not wet the place and diapers are compulsory for children below age three. Also the child should wear socks, which we can bring with us, or buy from there itself. Parents can leave kids there and do their shopping in an hour or so and come back and get them. The staff would take your phone number and intimate you if your child needs you. Nucleus Mall is located on NH 49, on the way from Kundanoor to Thripunithura.

Ball Area at Nucleus Mall

It is all fun!

Jump Jump Jump!

Lulu Mall in Kochi has a large children's play area with lot of toys and equipments to engage kids for half a day. However parental supervision is required here and also there is a fee to use each of the equipment. Lulu also has come up with a town for children to play during summer vacation called ‘The Little Town’, sprawling over 15,000 square feet and featuring all the amenities of an actual town.There are roads, cars, driving schools, petrol pumps, newspaper office, playing areas, shops and a lot of other amenities inside Little Town, where kids get to be like adults doing what the grown ups do. It is open from 10 am to 9 pm and the entries are done using Sparkies card (a prepaid card available the play area). At a time, a kid is allowed for only three hours inside Little Town. Inside, parents can watch the activities of their kids from the designated adults area only.

Centresquare Mall in Kochi has a great variety of toys- all animation figurines like Spiderman, Chota Beem, Ben10 and so on and related products too. 

Elite supermarket in Thrissur (Karunakaran Nambiar Road) is the only supermarket in Thrissur which has a play area as of today, and this too is a small space with no particular protection. Even then it is okay to leave slightly older children there to play video games, or in case of smaller children one of the parents can sit there watching the child play on the small slide or seesaw, while the other parent can shop.
These are places that I have taken my children to. I have heard that Gold Souk in Kochi has a grand play area, and of course there will be so many other places where you can comfortably shop with kids. Please share your shopping experiences in Kerala with children in the comments area at the end of this post.

This is what I learnt after three years of shopping with triplets in Kerala-

1. Online shopping is best if you are buying clothes, books etc. You will have enough time to browse and choose after the kids sleep. Amazon and Flipkart offer great variety and great service.

2. If you have to buy from a shop, if both parents are going by car with the kids, try and find a shop where there is good parking facility. One of you can sit with the kids in the car while the other shops.

3. Similarly if there is a nice play area, one of the parents can sit there while the kids play and the other parents does shopping.

4. Once the child is old enough, say three and a half years old, the child also can actively participate in the shopping process. Teach him/her how to find a product, how to choose only what is required, how to stand in a queue and pay the bills, get the change, show the receipt to the security before leaving with the shopping bag etc. This is an immensely exciting activity- for you and for the child.

YES!! Hurray! Finally your child is four years old! He can handle himself, shop with you in a decent way or entertain himself with video games in the games area. You are now finally free again to read all those price tags, nutritional information, handling instructions and all sorts of labels on products. Feeling a tinge of sadness? Missing the energized ball who ran around you knocking over everything in sight before finally clinging on to you? Well, relax. He will be with you in a minute- the moment he gets bored of that gamezone.

Trips with kids

Both me and my husband love to travel. But being underweight and supposedly vulnerable, our little fellows were not allowed a lot of outing in the initial months. The first outing they had was the trip from NICU to our house, through most of which they slept. After reaching home we followed doc's instructions and kept them inside till they gained some weight. Their first longest trip was at six months for their choroonu. Now ten months old, they have had a few road trips and one train journey. When three babies travel, if the journey has to be comfortable, there has to be four adults to accompany them, to take care of their needs.

Loooong journey, by our standards :)

The short road trips are okay, but for longer journeys we prepare the day before itself, packing all the necessary items like diapers, wipes, diaper disposal bags, change of clothes, towels, sheets, hand wash, toys, books etc. Morning we pack water, formula and snacks (nuts,fruits,cookies,cheddar cheese, peanut butter- preferably dry foods to keep the hands and car clean). Car seats are extremely useful for long trips. We have a hatchback now, so we bought only one car seat. Until a few weeks back, one baby used to sit on it, the other two used to sit on our laps. They prefer to sit on the baby car seat or the actual car seat itself. Mostly they do not sleep during the trips. They enjoy the trips, but once they are back home, they would be tired, and sometimes cry quite a lot. We let them sleep until they are well rested and then they wake up with bright eyes, all happy and looking forward to the next trip.

Want to know how we manage shopping with triplets? See http://tripletshouse.blogspot.in/2016/01/shopping-with-kids-in-kerala.html

Update: April 21, 2013
Today we-me and husband- took the trio to Durbar Hall Ground in Ernakulam- a public open area with a large lawn of buffalo grass. We waited this long to take all three together because we felt a bit unsafe and unsure if just the two of us can manage ourselves- we were unsure what we would do if all three started crying together, or if one of them ran towards the busy road or so. Whenever we went out for short journeys- even for routine hospital check ups and injections, we took them only one at a time, a luxury we could afford because my parents were there at home to look after the other two. 

                             

We were nervous, and excited. Before the pregnancy, both of us have always dreamed about taking our baby for outings, adventures, and showing him the exciting new world. When we knew we were to have triplets, we talked about the adventures we would have once they grow up. But once the babies came out, and we saw what it really is to be parenting triplets- well, we shelved our dreams about adventures for the time being.

Anyway, on this April evening, finally, both of us took them out to the large lawn of D.H. Ground. We thought they would be scared, they wouldn't move, they might cry. But the moment they set foot on the grass- Kutty laughed so heartily, like never before, and started running! Raman followed, and both of them were soon absorbed in their play and excitement and sheer pleasure. Balu was a little afraid at first, then he also joined them, but he was careful never to move away from us. However, they were soon joined by other children playing in the lawn and theyquite enjoyed the attention and company.

Update: 31-12-2015

Now that we have had quite a few trips, I feel equipped to give a few 

Tips to travel with twins and triplets in Kerala:

1. Make sure your babies is well slept the night before the journey.
2. No need for a head bath before the trip, unless you are visiting a temple. Even so just use a wet towel to wipe the babies' heads and then dry with another towel. Do not risk a cold after the trip.
3. Do not forget the change of cloths, diapers etc- the list I mentioned before. And the snacks and toys. A chocolate, a picture book, a surprise new toy- all these help to comfort if the babies become restless. Otherwise during a long journey, you will become exhausted when two or three energy balls move around on your laps, and arms and around you- oh yes, they do that.
4. Do not forget to find a way to block the sun as your car windows cannot have sun films. The magnetic shades are not very effective- try to use a black cloth instead.
5. Take a pillow so that one or two of the kids can take a nap comfortably in the back seat. But make sure they do not fall. If only the parents are there, better to have a car seat in front passenger seat, with one baby sitting on that, and the non-driving parent can sit at the back with the other baby/babies.

How was your first outing with your baby? What other tips can you think of?