4 Tips for When You Have to Fly with Your Young Kids

Going on a trip with your family, whether you are going on a vacation or paying a visit to relative, can be hectic enough. However, when you add young children into the mix the experience can become much more difficult to manage.

Not only do young children tend to need more supplies brought along to make it through the trip, but air travel can be incredibly stressful on them. The pressure change affects their ears much more than those of adults and even slight time changes can throw off their entire schedule.

There is no reason to be so intimidated by the thought of flying with young children that you decide against going away altogether, though. There are, in fact, a few things that you can do that might even make the trip enjoyable to a great degree. Here are a few tips to make flying with your young ones easier on everyone involved.

1. Reduce Your Time at the Airport

Airports can be a bit overwhelming for young kids to take in. Not only will they hate having to sit still while you stand in line at various points throughout the airport, but the hustle and bustle of everything going on can send them into sensory overdrive. It is far better to look for ways to reduce your time at the airport altogether.

Start by reserving a parking spot for yourself online at Parkon.com so that you can avoid driving in circles searching for a spot, something that can make everyone irritable. Eliminate the need to stand in the check-in line by checking-in for your flight online up to 24 hours before your scheduled departure. Next, make sure everything is prepped and ready to go for security so that you can easily get through your screening to enter the terminal.

2. Bring Snacks

Any experienced parent will tell you that having snacks on hand is absolutely necessary at all times. This is especially true when you are flying with your young kids. Just because you can’t bring drinks through security doesn’t mean that you can’t have airport friendly snacks with you. You can also bring an empty sippy cup or water bottle with you to fill up on the other side of security.

3. Have Activities Ready

You can easily make it through a flight with your headphones and a book or magazine, but young kids need plenty of activities to keep them content in the airport and while in their seats on the flight. Bringing along plenty of activities is essential to traveling with young kids. A tablet loaded with their favorite shows and games as well as some coloring books are good places to start.

4. Stay Calm

Nothing will make your kids more antsy and irritable during air travel quite like seeing you get antsy and irritable yourself. Do your best to remain calm throughout your airline experience so that you young ones can take their cues from you and follow suit.