Day: June 7, 2005

Planes, Kids & Uncomfortables

I have left on my business trip to the US. I will be away from Hong Kong for a total of four days and fifteen hours.  As I write this we are about one hour from landing in San Francisco. I am sitting in the same seats that we’ll be taking when we head back to Canada the end of June. I guess you could say I am test-driving the seats. The flight to SFO is about 14 hours and pretty much everyone – both adults and kids – feel yucky by the time we all step off at the end of the flight.

There have been numerous kids in the vicinity of my seat, all of them very young, ranging from maybe one to three years old. At one point one of the three year olds went crazy in the middle of the night. He was obviously tired, disoriented, confused AND hungry. He was also extremely, extremely LOUD.

After a few minutes of pure screaming in the aisle, and standing less than two feet from me, I was pretty much un-phased. This was NOTHING compared to what I’ve heard in the last year. His parents were clearly scrambling to remedy the situation and I was pretty confident this lil’ guy would be quiet very soon. But the passenger next to me, about ten years my junior, had a different opinion.

"OH MY GAWD!" He said condescendingly. "That is HORRIBLE. His parents obviously don’t know what they’re doing. They’ve got his schedule completely mixed-up!"

"I am sure he’ll be quiet soon. Airplanes are tough for little kids," I said but as I did, picture the following thought cloud hovering above my head: "something tells me you don’t have kids."

The fact is: airplanes, especially long flights, are very tough for babies and toddlers. First, there is the constant noise of the plane. Second, they are way outside their comfort zone in an unfamiliar place. Third, there is no place to run around or stretch or play properly. As the flight goes on and on, things get messier and messier and more disorienting.  Fourth, dehydration and fatigue eventually settles in. This is a recipe for creating unhappy little campers.

Fortunately, though, Tess and I have had quite a bit of luck with airplanes and Sebastian. Sebastian has turned out to be a very good traveller who is generally low maintenance on planes. Here are some tricks we follow and I am interested in any other ideas people would like to contribute:

1. Timing: Pick a flight late in the day, therefore, probability of child sleeping is high.
2. Eating: Don’t feed immediately before the flight because eating is a great time consumer and pacifier. Therefore, feed shortly after take-off. If your kid is old enough, request a child meal through your travel agent – the meals often come with toys or other treats.
3. Fluid Intake: We encourage Sebastian to consume lots of fluids for two reasons… first to avoid dehydration that canmake a child irritable and second… trips to the bathroom, while repetitive they can be annoying, are still a great time consumer.
4. Sleeping: If Sebastian falls asleep on a plane, we watch him for two things… first, being comfortable to avoid him waking up and second, avoiding noise and light that could wake him up. We’ve even been known for building little tents, with blankets overtop of seats, to decrease the chance he’ll be woken up. Pillows strategically placed next to ears can also help dullen the roar of the plane.
5. Chunk Theory: Break the flight up into 20 – 30 minute activity slots. Each activity can be repeated once. If the flight is six hours long, that’s six to eight activities. You may not use them all but it is beter to have the variety of activities.
6. Less is more: Choose activities with minimal pieces in case they drop off the seat. (Dropped toys often take a while to recover as they roll all over the plane!) Suggestions: books, colouring books, blank books for drawing, stickers, etch-n-sketch toys, small cars (if you’re like Seb).
7. Toys – small is beautiful: Toys need to be small so that the relative play area is large. I.e. large car won’t drive far, but a small one can drive around a tray table hundreds of times… this is a good thing.
8. Favourite Toys: Take along favourite toys that have mysteriously been hidden away for a few days before the trip. When you pull out the toy on the plane your child will be that much more delighted to see it.
9. Keep track of toys… it’s easy to leave behind a toy that can be a real heartbreaker later. I always try to keep track of them by keeping a bag nearby that a toy can be thrown into instead of stuffed into a seat back pocket where it may be pater forgotten.
10. Walking & Exploring: Walk up and down the aisles whenever possible. If your child becomes fascinated with some ridiculous thing, let them investigate. This will help pass the time.
11. Windows: if possible, snag a window seat and keep track of what it flying by. You might find some interesting mountains to watch, or even find funny formations in clouds. Sebastian loves seeing cars driving on roads thousands of feet beneath the plane.
12. TV & Movies: The ultimate time consumer is TV. Find out if your plane will have personal TVs. If yes, consider buying a headset for your child that will provide better sound than airplane headsets. (Some airlines are now using an earplug-type headset that is uncomfortable for kids to use.) If no, an alternative is a portable DVD player – either bought or borrowed. (Don’t forget to charge the battery!)
13. Comfort Items: We do our best to insure Sebastian eats and sleeps properly on the plane, but we are also realistic… a long plane ride is no fun. Therefore, we make sure we have plenty of comfort items for distraction and consumption. (Okay, it’s pure bribery, call me a bad parent!) If that’s TV or watching a movie so be it. If it is letting Sebastian eat more Goldfish or Chocolate Bear cookies that normal, we will let him. These items are usually introduced late in the game when an unhappy camper needs to be settled down… keep your cards close to your chest and save these tasty items for when they are really needed. All of these fifteen items are a series of carefully planned distractions to help Sebastian (and soon The Terrific Trio) be better travellers when they are young.
14. Manage expectations: Tess & I not only build up the excitement of going on a plane with Sebastian, we also make him aware – or remind him – of what he’ll do on the plane… such as going to the bathroom, sleeping, eating, and even getting tired. Before going on the 17 hour flight to Torontoin March we drilled into him over and over that the flight was long and he would need to be patient… we even practised "eating on the plane!"
15. Backpacks: I also find backpacks extremely useful for airports. A backpack allows both hands to be free to care for kids… hold hands… restrain… chase, you name it… if you are carrying bags it is all harder to do.

Those are some of our ideas for now… if you have your own that you would like to contribute please fee free to do so!