Perhaps you are jetting off somewhere nice and warm with the kids. If not, you probably have your summer holiday booked and are very much looking forward to it… but if you are flying you are probably already worrying about how to keep your offspring happy. Here are Skyscanner staff’s top tips on how to survive a plane journey with a screaming baby, a terrible tot or a ‘difficult’ child.
1. Teach them the wonder of flying
Flying is fun; flying is amazing. Remember that your little ones don’t commute to work on budget airlines, so they’ll actually be quite excited about going up in the sky. Long-suffering Skyscanner CEO Gareth Williams advises: “Don’t forget that flying was once wondrous. To them it still is, so point out the small houses, the clouds, the setting sun…. And if you’re desperate, get them to count how many passengers are on the flight (I kid you not – it worked a treat). If you can, get a visit to the cockpit. Even adults enjoy it. Your kid may decide to be a pilot, which is fine, until they dream up something else.”
2. Play pilots
Let your child be a pilot or a flight attendant. Play everything that normally happens on board. This really helps to avoid pre-flight and in-flight panic.” This mightn’t work if they want to play at being a drugs smuggler. If they do, you should probably take them to see a psychologist.
3. Consider others
Gabriela Wawszkowicz, Skyscanner Test Engineer, and others, suggests following the example of the parents who handed out bags of sweets to fellow passengers on their flight as an advanced apology in case they cried and disturbed anyone. Parents of potentially unruly toddlers might like to pen a message along the lines of:
“To the person sitting in the row in front of us, you are probably already aware of our presence. You did your best to avoid us in the rush for seats, but you were the last to get off the bus and we’re afraid you drew the short straw. We apologise for the behaviour of our darling Jocasta. She may look sweet when she wants ice cream, but as you may experience, she’s a little sod when she flies. If she kicks the back of your chair and you get lifelong back pain, please don’t sue us.”