Travelling with kids: how to entertain your child during flights

Travelling with kids is as much to do with your own state of mind as it is with what you pack or plan. If you consider the trip to be one big adventure for your family, you will be more relaxed and everything will be easier. Your kids will love it too. Keeping your kids happy goes hand in hand with keeping everyone else around you happy too. And will make for a much easier flight for all.

Having done around 70 flights as a family, there are a few things that I now do to make the experience great for us all. I thought I would share them with you in the hope that some of them may make it a better experience for your family when travelling with kids.

1. Toys
I am not one for carrying a lot of things for the flight, but I have come to realise that what works really well is the element of surprise. Now I am certainly not suggesting you buy new toys for each flight but what has worked for me is to put away a few toys a week or so before the flight. You can then produce these one by one on the flight, maybe one every hour or so. Consider wrapping their toys up like presents. The fact that they haven’t played with these toys for a few days is usually adequate to make them interesting enough to spend a bit of time with them before boredom hits and something new is required. Also, keep these toys to a reasonable size, not too big that you are carrying huge amounts with you but not too small that they will be easily lost on the plane.

2. Food
Take your own on board. You don’t have to feed your kids the in flight meal. Why not take on board your beautiful healthy homemade meals that your kids are used to and that will make them feel healthy and happy. This way you have some control over what your kids eat plus eating healthier will likely help to reduce some of the symptoms of jet lag, allowing you to get on with your holiday a lot sooner. Just keep in mind that, depending on where you are flying to, you may need to leave your leftover food on board due to quarantine restrictions at your destination.

3. Hydration
As goes for yourself, make sure your children drink plenty of water pre, during and post flight. Dehydration is often worse when flying due to the air inside the cabin being a lower humidity than we are used to and is a factor in worsening the effects of nausea, lethargy, sluggishness, headache and fogginess associated with jet lag. Preventing dehydration is so important but do consider the types of drinks you are giving to your children. They may be offered fruit juices and other high sugar content drinks on board. Giving a toddler a large amount of sugar disguised as a drink in the small, confined space of a plane, may not be your best option for a calm flight with your kids.

4. Giving attention
Ignoring your screaming child during flight may not be the best way to get them to settle. A strange thing to say you may think but I have witnessed it firsthand. I have seen a child be left to scream for pretty much an entire flight while her mother put headphones on and ignored her because she needed to learn to settle herself. Flying is often a new and different experience for a child, no matter how many times they have flown before. Each flight brings with it a different plane, different people and different circumstance. Giving your child reassurance and comfort will promote feelings of safety and security. It will make them feel understood and loved and will actually help them settle much quicker.

I hope these tips give you some helpful hints to keep your kids happy while travelling. Remember, they may forget what you said, but they will not forget how you made them feel (Carl. W. Buechner). Keep calm yourself and enjoy the journey to make the experience a fun adventure.

Happy Travels!
Written by Kylie Whyte. Kylie is a coach, speaker, Registered Nurse and the founder of Teeny Travellers. She is an avid traveller herself, a busy mum and strives to make travel fun and easy for you and your family. After all, isn’t travel best enjoyed with the ones you love.