Sledging, oranges and hot chocolate. Children's laughter and rosy cheeks. With the right clothes and fun games, children and adults can play about and have fun together in the winter.

This is a guide to travelling with young children – one of the greatest adventures of your life! From planning to departure, packing to sightseeing, expectations to reality:

Suddenly a toy flies through the air or your child is shoved by another one. Almost all children end up fighting or hitting their playmates at some point. It may help to know that this is not unusual. Find out why the children are fighting, help them, and stop it happening again.

For children, potty training is about training both the nervous system and the muscles around the bladder and intestines when it's time to learn how to stay dry. For you as a parent, it's about learning to read your child's signals and allowing your child to take as long as they need to learn.

The key to learning to read is often closely linked to being curious about reading. Many parents want to teach their children to read quickly, because they know how much fun it is, and that reading opens the door to an enormous world of knowledge and imagination.

The ability to stay dry is hormone-related and develops over time. There's no need to try and get your child to practise not weeing at night if their body isn't ready yet.

Here are some inspiring ideas for fun indoor games.

12 tips and recipes for finger painting and play-doh for creative kids who love making things.

Learning to help out as a child isn't just a matter of sharing in the housework. Learning early on to say “In our family we work together and help each other out” is a good start for something considerably more important – the child's self-worth.

It's common for children to accidentally wet themselves at night. When they're little they rarely see it as a problem, but as they get older they may start to find it annoying, just as parents do. We only really start to call it bedwetting, or nocturnal enuresis, once the child turns five.

Shyness is a matter of personality. Your child may be careful and take their time in trusting new people. Never reject your child's feelings; they are by definition not silly. Here are some tips for helping your child if he or she is shy.

Turn bathing and hair-washing into a special time. When your child is little, lukewarm water is all you need. When their hair eventually needs a proper shampoo, bring out the swimming goggles! See below for more tips on simple hair-washing.