Travelling with children. Every age brings a different set of challenges to consider.
Air travel with newborns is anxiety-inducing… but people tend to give itty bitty babies the benefit of the doubt. Smiling flight attendants will hold your babies and kindly strangers will gaze upon your little love ball with forgiving eyes. (Maybe not for those screechers on the red-eye, though).
Moving on to toddlers. This has to be the most challenging age to travel with. All those remedies you hear about – they don’t seem to have a consistent effect. So slipping your little one a kids’ Gravol to prevent any motion sickness may have an unintended effect and have them bouncing off the walls. And your fellow travellers have much less sympathy for a drooly lunk of a 2 year old than a sweet little sleepy baby!
For those toddlers who have just learned to motor around on their own, whether crawling or walking, good luck having them strapped down for any extended period of time when there’s a whole world around them to explore! Pro Tip: Let them walk or crawl up and down the aisles in between snack services. It might tire them out.
For the 3 and up set, hit up the dollar store. Have a little bag of items that are new to them that might hold their interest. Playdough is great! Puzzles are not (you WILL drop the pieces).
Taking an airplane is when you might relax your rules about screen time. Make sure your devices are fully charged and that any movies you want to watch are downloaded. You can’t rely on the in-air amenities.
One last tip for plane travel (and some may disagree): when they ask those travelling with young children to board early, DON’T! Let’s face it. It takes a LONG time to take off. You will not need any extra time to settle in. Best to have your kids burning up their energy bouncing off the airport walls for every last second before you cram them into a tiny little plane full of recycled air.
And for any age… make sure you’re fully stocked with snacks, or at least a good credit card to buy a $7 can of Pringles!