Staying Sane by Keeping Your Children Busy During a Flight

This summer we are traveling from North Carolina to Romania. This, as you know, will require long flights and travel with tons of boredom for even an adult. Here are a few of the actions we (husband and self) plan to take, in order to keep our son busy and happy. You should also be aware that our so will be almost three years of age upon travel time.

First of all, I do believe my son will be entertained in the airport terminals with all the action and planes taking off. Kids love that stuff. Well, my son does...we have been preparing him by pointing in the sky at planes in the distance and telling him that he will get to travel on a plane this summer way up high in the air. He is Excited!!! When the time comes, he will somewhat understand where he is when he is on the plane and with any hope remain excited about the adventure. To add to his excitement, we made sure he got to pick out his carry-on piece, in which, he chose a rolling "Spider man" backpack. He is sure to fill a part of it all.

Now that he is passing through the airport terminal and is fully excited about the trip; it is time to prepare him for take-off. Honestly, this is the part that terrifies me with him and his popping ears. What I have read through my research on traveling with little ones that I do plan to use is having a sippy-cup that has the silicon (squishy) mouth piece so he can chew on it to help pop his ears. Every child is different, so I will have to report back if this works or not for him. A follow-up article perhaps?

Once we are in the air and can "move about the cabin," this is when we will first of all see how interested he is in the flying, looking out the window, etc... Upon getting restless or cranky, we then have a few "tricks up our sleeves" to pull out for him: number one: good ole "read a book;" number two: coloring possibly (not sure about this one yet); number three: Portable DVD Player with his DVDs; number four: Leapster Hand-held System by LeapFrog with Games; number five: our final resort Benedryl and let him sleep.

Listed below is further explanations of our "tricks"
1. Book: We will bring about 5 children's books and hide them in our carry-on so they will seem "exciting" to see. Maybe even a new one (got the idea of "new" from my research.
2. Coloring Book and just Eight Crayons: It would be a mini coloring book and 8-pack crayons. Just enough to release the "creativity" side of my son. (I teach Art and my husband also loves drawing...so this is a must for us.)
3. Portable DVD Player and DVDs: We have already purchased this and a two year warranty on it (just in case) for traveling. We will take a case with "Thomas," "Bob," "Barney," and all the greats that my son loves. I love this idea that I dreamed up because I don't always like the "on-flight" choices or lack-of for kids.
4. Leapster Hand-held System by LeapFrog with Games: This is REALLY better than I thought it would be. It was a suggestion by one of my fellow bloggers left in my comment section. I bought one and my son loves it and truly can function the little gaming machine. Let's not forget that it is also educational. All of these suggestions can be made educational of course!
5. Benedryl: Many times in my research and conversations with other mothers that have traveled with little ones and they all say..."when all else fails, use Benedryl and don't feel bad." I don't like medicating my child but for one flight there and back, should be alright. I have to also mention, if your child is miserable in flight...they may need the medication. I don't want him miserable...so we will have this in our "bag o' tricks!"

This is what we plan to do for our air travel this summer. I wanted to share this as i feel that someone else may be able to benefit from at least one of our ideas. If they do...writing this has served its purpose. Happy Traveling! Above all...have fun and take loads of pictures!