Monday Morning Memo #11: 10 Tips for Taking the Traveling With Children Plunge

Let me begin by admitting, as I sometimes have to do here, the error of my ways.  I had always heard people raving about traveling with their kids, how it is worth the hassle and a good experience in the end. I would read or listen to these statements and think: “You are either a) crazy or b) parent to a child like the calm, well-behaved one that belongs to KKRRR, who never had to play human fence throughout her daughter’s entire childhood.”

I always thought traveling was for parents of, ah, calmer, less physically insane active children.

Not so.

Even though the 16 hours of flying back and forth across the United States were not my idea of a great time, the difference in my son is huge. Though he had made the three hour flight to my parents’ house several times, he had never done this many cities (three) for this length of time (three weeks). The intensity of that trip made its mark.

His language skills have improved dramatically. He is calmer. More focused. He takes directions better. He communicates better. He has far less separation anxiety.

In short, he grew up more in three weeks than in the past three months. The change of scene and the different interactions with other children and adults had a huge impact on him.

So having established that the rewards are worth the hassle, how to manage the trip itself?

I got progressively better at answering this question with each flight we took. Here’s what I found:

1. Visit the dollar store and the Target 1$ section before your trip to stock up on stickers, paper pads, or any kind of silly stuff that you do not usually buy your kids. The low price makes it less painful if those items are accidentally left behind on the airplane; the novelty makes it entertaining for your children during landing and takeoff (the non-electronic portions of the trip);

2. Bring a DVD player and/or laptop along to provide the inflight entertainment. Not only are the movies shown on the airplane’s screens hard to see, they are not always child appropriate;

3. Consider downloading a few of your kid’s favorite TV shows off iTunes and onto your computer. Watching something familiar, without having to sit through a full-length movie, was a big hit with our traveling show;

4. Bring along the blankie, the pacifier, the stuffed animal: whatever your child’s comfort item of choice, make an exception to the “it doesn’t leave the house” rule and bring it along. It makes a big difference in helping them sleep.


5. If you can stomach the extra expense, consider buying a seat for your toddler and his/her carseat. Not only is this more secure, since the child can be buckled in to their seat which is buckled into the airplane seat, it gives you a little more room to maneuver and even change a dirty diaper if the wait at the lavatory is a mile long.

6. If the airline does not offer the option for people traveling with small children to board first, ask for it. Remind them that a happy, well settled kid on the plane is to everyone’s benefit.

7. Bring food, more food, and then some extra food. Some of the food I brought from home; some I bought at the airport. I picked up old favorites and some new and interesting things. I brought several kinds of drinks. I was surprised at just how much my son wanted to eat and drink. He was hungry, and the food calmed him.

8. Work hard to get your child to swallow, suck, or drink something during landing and takeoff. Don’t assume the pressure will naturally adjust. Your child may have fluid in their ear that you do not know about, and the pressure bubble could get stuck. If this has ever happened to you as an adult, you can imagine how well a toddler or baby would handle it.

9. When in doubt, sing out. A light head or arm massage, some singing – whatever you do to calm your child when they are fussy at home, do not be embarassed to break out those techniques on the plane. No one can usually hear you over the jet roar anyway.

10. While some kids may benefit from being allowed to walk up and down the aisles and get a change of scene, others may not be able to handle returning to their seats once they are shown the rest of the airplane. Know which category your child falls into before you begin walking (you can infer from this what category my son falls into. Ouch. This was a hard one to learn).
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Over to You: What are your airplane travel tips? Do you have specific recommendations for managing different parts of the flight or different ages? Let us know!

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Tagged as: airplane, dollar store, dvd player, error of my ways, good experience, inflight entertainment, language skills, left behind, separation anxiety, silly stuff, stickers, takeoff, three months