Vacation #3 – Up, Up and Away! Many of you have asked if we have ideas for flying with children. For children, do the same thing we talked about for car travel. Break up the time you will be in the air (including the time between flights) into segments, help them plan what to take in their backpacks and keep moving them through activities. Of course, if they get interested in something, let them continue to do it! There are those of us who think you have it easy – when we flew with our kids there was no such thing as watching movies on computers! If you have a lot of time between flights, keep the kids as active as possible, taking walks and standing to watch planes at the windows in the terminal. Take healthy snacks and buy bottles of water once you are through security. You do not want kids to drink from open glasses of water the airline serves with people squeezed in tight. For younger children, do take their favorite stuffed animal and blanket on the plane, as much for giving them security as sleeping. Get to the airport in time to take advantage of the pre-boarding most airlines allow when traveling with young children. When flying with babies it gets a little trickier. Get to the airport early enough so you don’t need to rush through security. They can put the stroller in the plane at the gate. If you are flying across more than one time zone, and your baby feeds on a routine, start moving his eating and sleeping times towards the time zone you are vacationing in a week before you go. Move them up or back 15 minutes a day. You will enjoy your first days at your destination a lot more if your baby is already on his routine according to the time zone you are in. When you are visiting family or friends, if your baby is passed around from person to person wanting to hold him, he will get over-stimulated, meaning he will get to the point where he can’t deal with anyone pulling on him and the increasing noise level around him. Plan times into the day you can take him into a quiet room and put him in a playpen with a couple toys for quiet play. If there is no playpen available, put a blanket on the floor and give him a couple toys. You or an older child can sit nearby and quietly read while he gets his endurance back. As much as possible, keep babies and young children on the routine they are on at home. Their happy attitudes will make it worth the effort! What about you? What has worked for you when flying with babies and young children?
Posted on: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 15:13:58 +0000
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