Do you have a fear of flying with toddlers?
The very thought of flying with toddlers is probably the single biggest cause of stress that families face when planning a vacation. And as even the most-traveled families will tell you: once a kid hits two, all bets are off. Although, “three was the new two” for us in a lot of cases. However, I’m actually quite proud to say that we have not once been kicked off of a flight! In spite of a mid-flight barf-o-rama and the odd airplane toilet drama, we’ve made it through our years of flying with toddlers relatively unscathed.
I say relatively , since on a flight when our son had just-turned-three (technically a preschooler, no matter how much that hurt to say!) he threw a full-on, screaming red-faced tantrum.
Dun dun dun.
Flying with Toddlers & Preschoolers
I got this…
I am pleased to say that we flew a fair amount with both our daughter and son during this age range and, for us (aforementioned tantrum aside), it was pretty painless. Now, my kids have flown a lot, and that means they know what kind of behavior is expected on an airplane. They know they’re on their way somewhere fun so they can manage to sit for a few hours. They also know they will be plied with treats and technology not usually forked over with such abandon. Needless to say, my kids actually like flying.
But my nephews didn’t go on their first trip until they were ages four and two. And the eldest was actually quite scared and the two-year-old was very two .
That was a tough flight.
Flying with Toddlers & Preschoolers: Biggest Concerns
Toddlers are busy. Our son was sooooooo busy. He doesn’t sit still. He didn’t like hearing no for an answer. (Still doesn’t). And although he’d flown well for all of our trips, I am not smug enough to think his unpredictability would not bite me in the behind.
I didn’t want to be a “Negative Nellie” so I hoped for the best, and prepared for the worst. That’s my typical parenting mantra, actually.
Flying with Toddlers & Preschoolers: The Reality
So. The tantrum. THE tantrum.
After an amazing week driving across Alberta and then attending a family wedding, our son was tired. We all were.
And as we boarded our 7am flight from Edmonton to Toronto, we took advantage of Air Canada ‘s family pre-board and headed on back to get settled. On the way out, Bub had the window seat, so the flight home meant it was his sister’s turn. But, he wasn’t having it. Nosiree! This was a screaming-hitting-kicking-knock the coffee out of my hand-frothing at the mouth-trying to pull my hair kinda tantrum. And I was paralyzed.
The flight attendant’s clipped and perfunctory, “Can I do anything?” didn’t help.
In between trying to restrain him in the seat belt while avoiding getting knocked out by our baby Balboa, I turned on the seat-back entertainment (thank you, Air Canada !!) And it was truly like a switch had been flipped. He immediately calmed down, put on his headphones , and watched The Wiggles . And, thanks to the pre-board, none of our now-boarding fellow passengers was the wiser, except maybe the other families on board. They were likely thanking their lucky stars it wasn’t them!
Then our son slept for most of the flight.
It was glorious.
I know THE TANTRUM happened not really because he wanted the window seat, but because he was exhausted. The seat was the last straw. Whether your toddler or preschooler has their own frequent flier account, or it’s their first flight, you have to approach flying in almost the same way you do with a younger baby.
Flying with a Toddler or Preschooler: The 5 Ts
Even Baby Yoda is challenging to travel with
