We’re back from our week-long trip to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. It was great, but best of all, Franco did amazingly well. My little dictator has suddenly turned into a well-behaved 25-month-old! He listens, follows instructions, and can actually keep still for periods of time. I am loving this stage of motherhood. It gets better and better every day. I keep telling Dean, “I can’t wait until Franco is 15!”
This was our first long-distance (5 hours) flight and here are some tips that kept us sane.
- Break the flight down into increments of 30 minutes. The first 30-60 minutes will hold their attention because the environment will be new. They can fiddle with their seatbelt. They can look out the window or people-watch. Same for the last 30-60 minutes. Flight attendants come around more often to collect trash, they check to see that your seatbelt is fastened, and there’s generally more activity at the beginning and end of the flight to hold their attention.
- If you can get your kid to sleep, more power to you. Franco is a poor napper and sleeper. I resigned myself to him staying awake and having a temper tantrum, but the opposite happened. During take-off, I massaged his head and gently closed his eyelids and he went to sleep. I couldn’t believe it! He slept an hour on the flight over, and two hours on the way back. SCORE! Bring a pillow or something that reminds your kid that it’s time to sleep. Everyone in our row was sleeping and I kept telling Franco, “See? Everyone is tired. It’s time to go sleepy.”
- Activity Time. Every 30 minutes, break out a new distraction, whether it’s a toy, book or gadget. Anything new. Go to every neighborhood dollar store and clean house. I went to Daiso where everything is $1.50 and picked up games, pipecleaners, stickers, a digital watch (yes, for $1.50), a tally counter, cupcake holders. You have to be careful with the pipecleaners since the ends are sharp, but we made letters, numbers, shapes, animals. Best time drain ever! Franco also loves stickers and band-aids. Band-aids are great because I think they really help with a kid’s dexterity, peeling the wrapper off, then adhering the band-aid somewhere. Here are some helpful Amazon links: cupcake holders, band-aids, pipe cleaners, tally counter. By the way, I did not pay those prices. Remember I got my shizzle from the dollar store!
- Reading Time. If your kid doesn’t read, you’re a bad parent. Seriously. Here are some good books for the plane: Airport, Best Little Board Book Ever, Sticker Activity ABC, Thomas and the Dinosaur.
- Snacks. Kids love snacks. Franco loves chips, specifically. I have to sneak it to him, though, because my mom gets really upset. She goes off on how it’s junk food and he’ll pick up bad habits, even though I only give him snacks after or in-between full meals. I’m like, “This kid is not going to get fat. Junk food is good for him!” Good snacks for the plane: chips of any kind and mini-sized cookies. I’d say fruit too, but who has time to wash and cut-up fruit before a long trip. This is why I need a personal assistant!
- Media Time. Lastly, there are always apps, TV shows, and cartoons. I personally try to keep Franco away from media as much as possible. Dean is the opposite. However on a plane, I’m willing to bend the rules. I use Common Sense Media to help guide my download decisions. I let Franco watch: Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Thomas the Train and Wonder Pets. He also loves to watch Youtube videos of Amtrak trains. Go figure. Buy these headphones. There’s an extra port for the adult to plug into and listen in. That way you can make sure the volume is controlled.
Any other tips? I would love to hear!
Absolutely great tips and can truly apply to even a bit older like my own girls and have done similar when we have flown recently, as well with reading, breaking activities down, snacks and media, too 🙂
I bring a blanket that we can tarp over her chair because even when they turn the lights off on the plane there’s all this extra light plus it makes her feel she has private space. Play dough is awesome and doesn’t roll away plus sticks to the table. Kids meals on planes aren’t always kid friendly so pick something up on a stop over. If they drink milk but don’t want to get it through security order milk at the airport coffeeshop/cafe. I also tell Gabby to make sure she doesn’t lose mommy which keeps her from wandering too far. She also knows to hold my jacket if mommy’s hands are full. Lastly, if you have to bring a car seat, buy a foldable luggage cart that you can put car seat with kid on. It’s awesome when they’re still asleep you can wheel them off the plane. Lastly a longer layover 2-3 hrs helps everyone’s sanity: real bathrooms, run around time, real food, no panicking over catching the next plane. Finally, kids will adapt to travel. It’s a big wonderful fantastic adventure for them and if you give yourself breaks you can enjoy it with them
really good points, michelle. i’ve always struggled with whether to bring a car seat or on. this time around, we didn’t and the rental carseat was pretty disgusting and wobbly. i really like the longer layover idea so everyone has a break and can check out the stores, run around, etc. we’ve been so wary of travel, but this made us feel a lot better about going on more trips!
We brought the car seat to Singapore but really used it in Bali. We did not bring it to the Philippines since most local transport couldn’t accommodate them anyway. But I do tend to bring it for domestic travel if we plan on renting a car since you know your seat is properly adjusted for your kid and you don’t have to learn a new seat system. You do have to make sure the seat is FAA approved not all are. As he gets bigger there are seat belt add ons they can use for the plane. Hiring airport porters are the best things ever that way you can focus on your kid and not all the luggage.
Yes to all of the above! This brings back memories. Some additional ones: get a Kindle Fire if you don’t already have one. With Amazon Prime you can download the free movies, and not have to stream. Other toddler friendly toys – a Velcro wallet with cards, some Magna Tiles (not a lot since they are heavy but this was and still is one of Cara’s favorite toys), mess-free art supplies like crayola color wonder products.
i am ordering a kindle fire now! thanks for the rec. sounds like i should have gotten that before our plane ride. will hold off on the magna tiles until he’s a little bit older, but i hear great things about it.
It’s so genius because I do that for myself too! And I mean breaking flights down into increments. I need it. It took nine hours to get to Alaska last week!
I fly with the kids to Florida which is a short flight but activities and snacks are key.
When my kids were little I used to stock up at the dollar store and then wrap the items so that they would have the additional activity of unwrapping the “gifts” inflight. My grandsons love watching you-tube videos of construction sites. I’ll have to introduce them to the Amtrak videos!