Erin and Ben Napier are sharing their tips and tricks for traveling with kids.
The HGTV couple revealed their secrets for occupying their daughters Mae, 2, and Helen, 5, in an Instagram post of their flight on Friday.
Ben, 39, shared a snap of Erin sitting with Mae on the plane, along with a blurry shot with only part of Helen in focus. He also included a photo of a bag featuring stuffed animals, tape, and other knick-knacks.
Erin Napier on Creating Community to Support Her Kids’ ‘Low-Tech’ Upbringing: They ‘Deserve More’
“Shout out to painters tape, @wilbursofmaine Gummi lobstahs, Wesley from the seat in front of us, Helen for being an awesome traveler, and stuffed animals for helping us get an overtired 2 yr old Mae home from vacation,” he wrote in the caption.
The Home Town star added, “Dear @delta flight crew, I am terribly sorry for the potato chips and granola scattered in our seats.”
When asked by a user in the comments what the painter’s tape was used for, Erin, 37, replied: “It’s really a roll of stickers for arms and seats and oceans on blank pages and stained glass on the windows — the best toy for a busy toddler.”
The Napiers have been open about their parenting style, even explaining why they have chosen to raise their kids without electronic devices.
Erin Napier Says Daughters Helen and Mae Are ‘Becoming a Team’: ‘Fascinating to Watch’
Erin recalled an early incident of posting Helen on social media that inspired her to make this decision in an essay for TODAY.com published earlier this month.
“When my daughter Helen, who’s now 5, was very young, I posted a picture of her, and someone criticized the way she looked,” she wrote. “It made me see red. It made my blood boil.”
“And it seems like the criticism always comes from other women. It feels like betrayal when a fellow mother has the gall to criticize your child or your parenting,” she noted.
Erin said of her and her husband’s “informal agreement” to keep their daughters off of social media and away from smartphones: “We don’t want our kids to be disconnected. We always have said, ‘We’ll get landlines so they can call each other, and then when they’re old enough to drive, we’ll get them flip phones, and they can call and text each other.’ ”
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The experience inspired them to launch Osprey, a nonprofit that assists families with finding a community that also prohibits cell phones and/or social media — to normalize the choice — all while allowing their kids to meet other kids.
“A lot of people are like, ‘You’re so naive,’ for thinking we can keep our kids off of social media and away from cell phones. But it’s not a forbidden fruit thing,” Erin wrote.
“We don’t intend to ever treat it that way for our girls. What we intend to teach them is that you can live the most incredible life, and you can do and see and be anything in the world, if you are not tethered to something fake.”
She concluded, “This is us teaching our children: You deserve more. And you are capable of a whole lot more if you can skip social media and cell phones until you’re older. Until you’re ready, you’ll have your growing group of Osprey friends who are having the same low-tech adolescence.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education