This was the first time we had ever taking our son on an airplane, and we were poorly prepared. I’ve done some research online and it turns out we did practically everything wrong. There are plenty of good tips about traveling with toddlers available on the web, but I never suspected it was going to be such a problem – more fool me. We now have the return trip to look forward to but we are going to be better prepared this time. The events of our last trip could be used as a case study in how not to deal with a toddler when traveling by plane.
How Not to Travel with Kids on Planes
My husband and I tend to leave things to the last minute so by the time we arrived at the airport we were rushing to get to the gate. We raced through the airport and right onto the airplane. We were all stressed and it is little wonder that our son picked up on this vibe. Apparently you are meant to give children a chance to stretch their legs before getting on the plane, but we had no time for this. We did see a playground area for kids near the gate and that would have been a great place for my son to work off some energy, but our names were already been called.
Finding our seat was a nightmare; trying to manage our son while trying to get past people who were blocking the aisle. Apparently if we got there early we would have been allowed to board early with our son; I can see now why this facility is offered. It is hell struggling through a packed plane with a toddler.
Our son found the unfamiliar setting of the airplane upsetting, and when the hostess came to fasten his seat-belt he went berserk; in fact he was crying so hard I thought he would make himself sick. The poor thing’s ears popped during take-off and he was obviously in a lot of pain. I hadn’t realized that we could have prevented this by getting him to suck on his bottle or soother. The next six hours in the plane was hard for all of us; my son just wouldn’t settle and I almost kissed the ground when we landed. I felt bad for the other passengers, but what could we do? At least we will be better prepared next time.
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