Flying with Toddlers: 5 Tips to Survive the Trip

Oh the stories I have from flying with toddlers!

One of my favorites took place a few years back while we were waiting to board the next plane, my husband and I began some small talk with a fellow traveler. We spoke of where we had flown from and if the next flight was our final destination. Before we knew it it was time to board and before parting ways, and eyeing our baby a few times she said,

“Good luck with your flight. I’m glad I won’t be sitting by you guys and your baby!”

Her tone was a bit sarcastic but we all know there always is some form of truth in sarcastic comments. We boarded the plane and settled in our seats ready for takeoff.

I am glad to report that Boston (the baby here at the time) did amazing well, without any outbursts. A poor mother a little further up from us wasn’t as fortunate. Her child was either crying or screaming most of the flight, and guess who she was sitting right next to her?  Yep, our fellow traveler.  🙂

Our little family just came back from visiting friends and family out west. The boys and I flew out a few weeks early so we could spend some extra time with family. I am happy to say that I survived flying with toddlers by myself.

Last year we tossed around the idea but had to bag it because just the thought of traveling on an airplane by myself with the boys put me in a panic and made for some sleepless nights. I had traveled alone with one child before but never two, so actually doing it was quite the accomplishment for me. Yes, I know, mothers do it all the time. My friend even did it with a three year old and one year old twins. She should definitely receive some kind of medal or something…

One of our family members asked me what traveling advice I had, and I shared with her the 5 essential tips I have learned from flying back and forth with small children a few times a year that help ease the flight for everyone involved (fellow travelers included) and here they are:

1. Reminding myself that my children and I will survive

Not to start off on a bad foot or anything, but no matter how prepared I am, sometimes my kids just fall apart. Yes and I have been in the dreadful position of being ‘that parent’ that everyone stares at and wonders about my capability of being a mother.

This happened when Boston was about 6 months old. We had made it peacefully through our first leg and were about finished with our second and last leg. The landing was all that was left…

that is when our baby lost it.

He had been peacefully dreaming/nursing but when we started to descend it woke him from his slumber and he had nothing but wrath to share. He screamed for the next 30 minutes. Straight through the landing, the taxing, and the unloading. And if anyone of you know my boys, they have quite the lungs.

It was horrible and embarrassing but somehow we survived and probably none of the people traveling remember us or our baby. Point being, sometimes it ain’t going to be pretty, but just know you will make it through!

2. Preparing my Kids for the Journey

I often get so busy preparing to get everyone ready to head out the door or in this case travel across country, that I take it for granted that my children have no idea of the long day of unfamiliar places, stuck in a small 4 ft radius for 5 hours, that awaits them.

In preparation for this trip, we facetimed several times with cousins and grandma to help get the boys excited and would remind them of our upcoming flight. We also checked out a few books from the library relating to our trip like books about the airport and family reunions. While reading the book, I told them that we would be flying on a plane in ‘x’ amount of days.

This worked great!

When the time came for our trip they were very excited and behaved fairly well. Boston did have a brief meltdown during our layover, which I attribute to being close to nap time, but this only lasted a few minutes and believe me it could have been worse!

3. Favorite/New Toys and Activities

I pack a variety of toys (nothing too big of course) such as small cars, a favorite book or two, stickers, and anything random I might have laying around that I think may entertain them for a little bit. When I am really on top of things, if I come across small trains or cars at a garage sale, I will hold onto them until our travels to then pull them out as a fun surprise, which buys me a few minutes of contentment which is definitely money well spent! 🙂

My sister usually heads over to the dollar store to purchase a few little toys and activities to keep her boy busy during their flights. It has also worked out great when I bring along a few toys that I know my boys loved but that they haven’t played with for awhile, to them it is almost as good as a new toy. 

After 5 hours on an airplane and 2 hours at the airport on a layover, I was at the end of my rope. We had played with all our toys, ate our snacks, and watched a movie. We were at the tail end of our journey and I was afraid of what might lay in store for the last 30 minutes. I had just one thing left, some 3-D alphabet letter stickers that I had found in my craft box and hurriedly stuffed in our carry-on.

Those stickers were a life saver!

The boys loved pulling them off the sheet one by one and organizing them on the trays, and then trade letters back and forth. Thankfully they were a major hit and helped us survive the last bit of our flight!

So glad for the variety in toys that I brought!

4. Snacks in Stages and LOTS of them!

Snacks were essential in our travels. I stashed the bag with our usual snacks along with some new healthy snacks and a few extra goodies. Unaware of the variety of food that I brought, they were happy with whatever I gave them or at least I had something comparable that they would take instead. The extra goodies are ONLY in case of extreme emergencies (i.e you’re on the last bit of your flight and your child is screaming at the top of his lungs) when that might possibly be the trick to get them to stop. Because I guarantee you, if my children were handed treats at the beginning of our travels they would never take anything else. They would demand more and then would throw a fit when they didn’t get it.

The first stage of our journey they munched happily on apples and cheese. After they were finished with that, I had a small bag of cereal for each to munch on and next a few nutty coconut ball cookies.

Tennessee starting throwing a major fit at the tale end of the flight, which is when I busted out the the fruit leathers which pacified him until he ate all those and then I brought out the fruit snacks. My husband had given me a pack of m’ms just in case, but luckily I never had to pull those out. 🙂

Oh I also bring snacks for my boys to munch on during take off and landing to help their ears adjust.

5. Welcome Distractions

One of the first times that I flew with my son, I made several rookie mistakes, including jumping right into our bag of toys and food as soon as we boarded the plane. What I failed to notice was that he was perfectly content just playing with his seat belt buckle and observing the new environment around him. Instead of letting this wonderful distraction run its course I started shoving toys at him because I had already mapped it all out in my head how, when and with what I was going to distract him. 

As I have become a more experienced flier with small children, I welcome ALL distractions (as long as we make our connecting flights) because it passes the time and it gives me lots of backup options. I just have to remind myself that our trip is all about them and it helps me not be so stressed out and have fun.

On one of our layovers last year, we hit a goldmine!  The airport was doing some reconstruction to the road outside and we could see the whole operation clearly from a few of the windows in the terminal. My oldest was mesmerized by the trucks and tractors for almost an hour. I embrace all distractions, if I never have to pull out anything from my carry-on bag, that is fine with me. Really I think of my carry-on bag as a last resort type of thing because you never want to run out of options if you can help it!

If anyone has any extra tricks or methods for flying with toddlers and are willing to share, I would love to hear them!