Flying with a wiggly 2 yr old

Mrs.LLG

Any suggestions? It'll be his first time flying and it scares me to death to think about dealing with the airport and my son and the poor other passengers on our flight! LOL

LoCarb

I bought DD a little back pack and filled it w/ new toys (mostly from the $1 store) and snacks. She loved to tote it around the airport.   We downloaded a bunch of Dora episodes on the Ipad 2 and she watches those over and over again.  I suggest investing in a mini DVD or Ipad to help make the trip smoother.

leslie13510

I just flew with my kids a couple days ago, for the first time, and while it could have been a total fluke, it went so much better than I thought it would.  The things that seemed to help the most were:

Re-usable sticker books in the terminal while waiting to board.  They have little "stickers" that are really vinyl cling-ons, and they can reposition them anywhere on the pages.  They were AMAZED, and sat quietly in the chairs for over half an hour.  I was even able to enjoy my coffee while it was still hot, while they sat and played with their books.

FOOD.  Lots of snacks for the plane, and for in the terminal.  My favorites were those little individual boxes of cereal, and we also brought fruit leather and they had the airplane bag of crackers too.

I brought my laptop on the plane and they watched a movie.  We started with headphones, but they wouldn't keep them on, so I just put the regular volume on instead (after asking the people around us if they minded, and the plane was pretty loud anyway).  I kept it low enough so that they had to keep quiet listen pretty closely if they wanted to hear anything, and that worked well. 

lewis514

We've flown a quite few times with DD. Here's what worked for us:

1. We did a lot of talking to DD before to prep her - security (everyone takes their shoes off), lots of people (so we hold hands or in the stroller), we have to sit on the plane, we have to wait in lines for our turn (Security, boarding, deplaning etc)

2. For security, we usually have one person handle DD and one handle the gear.

3. Before boarding, we do a lot of walking, running, etc to let her get her energy out. We also usually eat and use the bathroom before boarding.

4. Boarding - we don't usually do the children board early thing bc it's more time that DD has to sit. So one of us will board with the gear and then the other brings DD on the plane at the end.

5. On the plane, we use the CARES harness instead of her carseat bc it's smaller. I bring a lot of snacks, new toys/books (hit the $1 target area or the party favor section), pens/paper/stickers, and my iPad with toddler apps and shows. We rotate these throughout the trip. So when you can't use electronics, we do snacks, stickers then we switch to watching a show or doing an app, then we do books etc.

6. Also bring change of clothes for everyone in case there is an accident. I usually bring one roller bag with clothing changes, one bag of DD's toys. We also bring her blankie for comfort.

DD has been great on trips, just be patient and it will be okay.

Pesky

We have actually flown quite a bit.  DD a TON and DS has been on 3 roundtrip flights already.

1.  Prepare him:  I found some great books to help with that.  One a very simple one called Airplane.  Make sure it is his level.  Then you can point out how things are -- "look at how many people there are!  That is why you need to stay with mommy and use your listening ears", "see the security?  we have to put all our things on the little moving belt and then we go through a doorway and pick them up on the other side!  Fun!" and so on. 

2.  Prepare you:  Pack in an organized fashion.  Ziploc bags are your friend.  It's a lot easier to find the ziploc bag with the diaper change stuff or snacks that sift through a bunch of loose objects.  Take some extras for dirty things that fall on the airplane floor or in case of spills and such.  Take an extra empty sippy.  Bring changes of clothes.  Make sure you have a blanket and something to use as a pillow for him. 

3.  Snacks:  these will be KEY.  Try to stick with ones that won't create a sugar issue.  I found some high protein Newman's pretzels that the kids love.  Fruit snacks and maybe a gummi mini frog are saved for the way up and way down to help ears pop.  Dry cereal, crackers, etc.  Bring several just in case he decides to turn finicky.  Be sure to get a bottle of water in the airport because trust me he'll ask for it before they start the beverage service.

4.  Toys and books:  bring a few old favorites and a few new ones you think he will like.  Dole them out one at a time.  You can also wrap the new ones for added excitement and distraction.  Be sure to bring something like stickers, a magnadoodle and crayons or such.  I have found mine tend to prefer blank pads of paper to coloring books so I have that as well.  Post-It notes are another good thing to decorate and can pull double-duty in airport bathrooms to place over the auto flush until you are ready to leave in case that freaks him out.  Be sure to bring any comfort items he needs (blankies, lovey, pacifier, etc.), preferably multiple ones.

5.  (piece de resistance)  Portable DVD player:  if you can swing this, this is KEY.  You can get DVDs of shorter TV shows more likely to hold his interest -- Elmo, Calliou, Thomas, even Mater's Tall Tales (DS's fav -- I can repeat it by heart now).  If you think he can deal with them, try kid friendly headphones.  I got a pair that was very highly rated and reviewed for the kids and both were okay with them.  Otherwise, I just tried to keep the volume low enough so DS/DD could hear and it wouldn't bother other travelers.  Only problem is there is the usual unhappiness when it gets turned off during the descent so prep them for that and have an alternative thing to do ready.

Aprilsies

We will be flying with my 2 yr old almost 3.... she has flown before at 8 months (slept the entire time) I know for a fact this will be VERY different. I am bringing her a "special" bag of goodies that she can't open until we're on the plane... I'm going to put in new books/coloring books/crayons, little treats/snacks and some little toys to play with to keep her entertained. I thought about bringing out portable dvd player which is great for a couple hour car ride. Out flight is going to be about 3 hours. I think the excited on the plane is enough to keep them entertained for a couple minutes at first anyways! I think food and drinks are the key!