Here is the final post on tips for flying with young children. I hope this makes your flight with littles easier!
If you missed Part 1, you can read it here. For the planes we travel on that have 3 seats on each side, the most that can sit in those three seats (including lap babies) are 4 people—which is due to the oxygen masks. When we split up into two rows, we’ve found it works well to sit front and back rather than across the aisle as it makes passing things back and forth easier.
The main things we make sure to have in our carry-ons are a change of clothes and snacks for kiddos. While eating/chewing can help ears, we haven’t generally had ear trouble—but we’ve found eating is a favorite activity/time filler (favorites are string cheese, dried fruit, and pretzels). Plus, of course, attitudes are always better when tummies are full. They also enjoy looking at books or playing with a few toys. As far as activities, go, we have found that we really don’t need to bring a tremendous amount of activities along and the more we can simplify what we bring, the easier it is to manage carrying it all on and off the plane.
We preemptively take kiddos to the restroom on the flight. When it’s available—we’ll cycle children through. You never know when turbulence will shut down access. We also try to be careful how much liquids the little ones drink. They love drinking out of the plastic cups with straws on the airplane and would drink massive amounts if we let them.
Getting off is a reversal of boarding, with Anna Marie and the kiddos filing off and me bringing up the rear with the car seats. When we reach the jetway, we set up our stroller, strap on the car seats, arrange our bags on the stroller and head off to pick up baggage.
Then we are ready to be off on our next adventure!
In Christ,
Christopher
“Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that
he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful
seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
Acts 14:17
