How To RemoveThe Fear Of Flying With Children. Part 2

Your carry-on luggage survival kit:

1. Your survival kit for toddlers or children should include boiled sweets, vitamin tablets or something to suck for takeoff and landing to avoid earache. For babies I used to have water or milk in a bottle for them to suck on. It can also include activity bags for the children, fruit and nuts to cover for disorientated meal times. 
2. Hanky helpers – Two cotton hankies, each in their small plastic bag. Sandwich bags work well. Sprinkle one with a few drops of lavender oil to calm a restless baby or child. Put the hanky near their head as your soothe them. The other can be sprinkled with eucalyptus oil, to smell when noses feel blocked up.
3. Change of clothes for yourself. T-shirts pack up small and it makes all the difference to arrive at your destination without wearing children-mess. Don’t forget spare underwear. We were once delayed 72 hours. It was the small things that made it more bearable. A few sanitary pads are worth including, not only for you but for sick children. (These helped when a three-year-old with diarrhoea  had ‘leaks’ on her way to the toilet.)
4. T-shirts for your children for their arrival outfit, or in case they have used up their spares. Children are often confused and weary when they arrive, so changing into a clean top helps them feel fresh. Since my son squirted yogurt over his arrival outfit as we were landing, I have changed the children once we were off the plane and while waiting for baggage collection.

Your children’s carry-on luggage:

Your children’s backpack is theirs and your survival kit. Keep it small enough so they can carry it. I suggest it includes their small cuddly toy or soother, a small book, such as a cloth book which  is light and can be washed, dried fruit and nuts, socks, a light jumper and an extra set of underwear. Keep the clothes in a plastic bag to avoid food and other spills. Having an individual  survival kit helps if you and your children are allocated separate seats. An alternative to the backpack is the Trunkis. I have never used them as they were before my time. There are opinions for and against them in the websites below. 

Good luck with the flying. Enjoy the journey. Don’t focus on passengers around you. Either they haven’t been in your shoes or they will be empathising with you and may even offer help.  As for the young man who anticipated a terrible flight, he slept most of the flight and I barely heard the baby cry.

You may also like:

http://www.frugal-mama.com/2012/05/11-tips-for-surviving-air-travel-with-kids/

http://www.justthefactsbaby.com/mom/article/surviving-air-travel-with-children-33

http://www.mumsnet.com/travel/tips-for-family-journeys-through-airports

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