formerposter

We are leaving town on Monday and going to Orlando, Florida. We recently decided to fly there since driving from Michigan to Florida would take us 20+ hours and cause me and my wife to lose about 10 years off of our lives.

Our daughter is almost 7 so she will be fine. Excited but fine. Our son, though, is only 2 1/2 and I'm concerned that he will throw a fit if he is sitting in one seat for an extended period of time. If he doesn't get his way he'll sometimes scream louder than most people could comprehend and he has been known to throw things. We are already planning on taking some toys and activities for him to keep busy with. Other than trying to have him look out the window at the clouds, does anyone have any other ideas of things we can try? Maybe we'll give him some Baby Benadryl so the stewardesses don't throw us off the plane. I can't wait to go on this vacation but the plane ride is not something I am looking forward to.

jtee

This is a tough one. It could go very smoothly, but it could be a nightmare, you just can't tell with kids. I'm sure you know better than anyone what does\doesn't work with your kids. My thinking is to get to airport earlier enough so he can run around and wear himself out just enough so he'll be calm for most to of trip, but even that approach may only be part of the solution.

I don't travel a a lot, but I personally feel other passengers need come prepared to have an unhappy baby near by, and have their own personal solutions to help reduce their own stress level. I found a good headset with a iPod works very well. Unless a crying baby is sitting in the seat next to me, I hardly hear the baby if at all. I know this doesn't help you because you can't bring 100 iPods with you.

You'll need to do what you need to do, but keep in mind that giving kids knock out drugs can be a slippery slope and should only be used in very limited circumstances. I think plane trips qualify.

Angeline

There is no way you can get a 2+year old kid to stay still...its a long journey indeed.

Get either the seats at the front row so that he will not be a 'nuisance' to others, 'cos he will definitely be pushing the chair infront of him...
seats at the front row has more leg room for him to climb up and down too....

other than hand-carry some sound-and-lights toys for entertainment, you can choose to read a story book too...

other than that, there is another 'indecent proposal', when he starts to be 'uncontrollable', give me a small teaspoon of medication syrup for cold, that will definitely 'sent him to dreamland'....*wink*

http://allaboutyourchild.com

Kaytee

I agree, tr to get a bulkhead seat, then he can sit on the floor some too.

I traveled with my 14 month old (at the time) and here are some ideas that I was given.

1. You will have your laptop, bring his favorite movie!!
2. Buy yourself a small kid bad and fill it with toys he has NEVER seen. Things like crayons and coloring books, playdoe, a new car or two, umm.... doesn't have to be expensive just new to him. And by new I mean he has not had one before or just a brand new one of something he does like, like cars and trucks. Then when he gets a little jittery in his seat, give him the bag to stick his hand in and pull out a suprise!!! I had things like beads, weeble wobbles, crayones, it worked great, and i think it would work even better for a 2 1/2 year old.
3. Snacks are a must!!!!

I think you were joking, but please do not give benedryl and makes some kids hyper and will be even worse!! I think it was a joke though

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Trina

Bring his car seat and have him travel in it on the plane just as he would in the car.

SpitNCobra13

Also, he will need something to suck on so his ears pop. You can also point out stuff on the ground to look at for a while, follow cars and trucks etc....then again I am a pilot so I really like looking out the window

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formerposter

Thanks for all the replies. There are some suggestions here that I didn't even think of. Hopefully these along with things we were already planning on doing will help. Our choices of seats may be limited especially due to traveling during a busy holiday. I have contacted the airline and when we get there we'll see about having up-front seats. Good suggestion! As for the toys and stuff, we have a backpack for each kid with several items to keep them busy. All great suggestions. I forgot about the fact that I can use my laptop while in the air. That should help quite a bit. I wonder if the same complainers that make moans and groans about a whining baby will complain about a kid's movie playing in the background? Of course we won't have the volume blasting but it's just one of those things to consider. People can be such pains in the a$$ sometimes. I mentioned that because of what happened on a flight with one mother and her child. I have mixed reactions to doing something like that. Of course ultimately I don't want to do anything that would make matters worse. I have to be honest though, I am very 'concerned' about flying with my 2-year-old. I can't even tell you how many stories I have found online where families are kicked off planes because of a crying or unhappy toddler. We would but we chose to bring as little big items as possible. We're renting a car in Florida and we had them put a car seat in the rental. That's one less big item we have to haul around the airport. Plus, in the car he loves kicking the back of my seat. I wonder if he'd feel the same urge in a car seat on an airplane. We'll have him buckled into his seat on the plane and do our best to make sure his feet don't reach the next seat. I almost don't even want to talk about it... LOL We went through Priceline to get the tickets and when I first looked we found a non-stop flight to Orlando and a one-stop flight coming home. I showed my wife a couple of hours later and the non-stop flight was gone. Our only option, for the price range we wanted to pay, was to get a one-stop flight both ways. We fly from Detroit to Atlanta and then Atlanta to Orlando on the way there. We'll have a one-hour layover which should be fine since it'll take some time to get to the next flight and board on time. On the way back we fly from Orlando to Cincinnati and then Cincinnati to Detroit. Again, a one and a half hour layover so hopefully that will go well too. Had the non-stop flights been $10 or $20 more per ticket, I would have snatched them up. The cost was almost double though.

jenilouise

Some suggestions for ear popping at that age- sippy cup, juice box, gummy bears, or fruit snacks and make sure he is munching them at takeoff and landing. Hannah was an angel at about his age on the plane when my brother graduated from boot camp. She just loved the fact that she was on the plane an spent most of the flight coloring.

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formerposter

We are now back home from our trip. I'll have to post some pictures once I download them from my camera.

As for traveling on a plane, my son was absolutely wonderful. I should have known better. We flew on four planes (two on the way down and two when coming home) and he slept during takeoff on the first three. Even on the fourth flight when he was awake, he was just staring out the window. Most of the time when he was awake on the flights, he was playing with his Thomas the Train toys or snacking. All-in-all, it was great traveling with both of my kids.

We did experience one idiot though on the way back home. On the last flight my son was talking more than the previous flights. I was sitting next to him and kept showing him the cool things he could see out the window. I was probably irritating him so he kept moving around and basically talking. For him it was normal volume but other people within 5 or 6 rows probably heard him. When we were exiting the plane, my wife and two kids were a few rows in front of me waiting to get off the plane. Some lady made a statement to my wife that she has her hands full (regarding the two kids). She then asked my wife if my son has ADD. I didn't know this until we were already off the plane and I was furious. Unfortunately my wife wouldn't point out the idiot to me so I was not able to confront her. I thought that was a completely inconsiderate and rude comment for anyone to make. My son was not screaming and he wasn't making so much noise as to bother the rest of the passengers. This moron probably heard me tickling him or just talking to him about the stuff we saw out the window. Some people are complete morons when it comes to traveling on a plane near small children. If all this person could say was mean, then she shouldn't have said a damn thing.

jenilouise

I hate it when people say "You have your hands full." It's like code for "Your kids are obnoxious" even when they are angels because they purely exist. Minus the idiot I am glad things went smoothly.

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