Tips to make air travel with kids less stressful

To most adults, air travel can be quite hectic. However, travelling with a toddler can be really stressful for any traveller. In this piece, you get tips to help coordinate your journey when travelling with kids

Large passenger traffic at airports, flight delays and impromptu cancellations can make air travel traumatic for an air traveller. When a kid is added into the mix, the situation can easily become almost too hectic for the traveller. This is why many parents are usually discouraged by the idea of travelling with a toddler, as they are afraid that they won’t be able to handle all of the stresses that come along with getting through the airport and onto the plane safely. Meanwhile, aviation consultants say it is possible to reduce the stress faced when travelling with a kid if one can carefully apply selected air travel tips. These guidelines, according to them, don’t sugar-coat the difficulty of getting a toddler through an airport, but will provide some helpful suggestions to make the process a bit more manageable. Below are useful tips on how to make air travel with kids less stressful, according to experts:

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Get to the airport early

This guideline is very important, not just for parents that are travelling with kids, but is also useful for adult passengers generally. Most experts will always advise air travellers to arrive at the airport early, at least two hours before departure. This is to allow yourself plenty of time to make all necessary arrangements at the airport. By getting to the airport early, you will be able to have your kids settled down and prepare for the flight. Experts say in the days before children, buzzing through the check-in and security lines may have been a simple task. However, the process of dealing with a toddler is much different. Security checkpoints will require you to take your toddler out of their stroller, fold everything up, take off shoes, put shoes back on, reassemble the stroller and load them back in. Don’t expect the airport personnel to help either, no matter how hard you’re struggling they are required to just stand there and watch, impatiently waiting for you to move out of the way so they can take care of the next person in line. This is why you should get to the airport early enough.

Use a tag or an ID bracelet

You can buy a travel wristband and tag your child if you will be travelling through a very busy airport. For instance, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, is one busy airport in Nigeria, especially in the evenings. Experts advise that you get identification tags that are disposable and can be secured to your child’s wrist. The tag should contain your contact information, allowing airport authority personnel to easily contact you in the event that your toddler does manage to wander off. However, airports are often crowded and hectic with hundreds of different people from all over the world. It only takes two seconds for a child to wander away from you and even less for someone to pick them up and take them away. If you plan on allowing your child to walk through the airport themselves, strongly consider purchasing a harness to provide them with additional safety.

Bring enough snacks

Kids are usually playful. And some of them tend to increase their playfulness once they get to spacious surroundings like airports and amusement parks. They expend energy playing around and if you fail to make necessary preparations, you may end up starving them if they become hungry. As a result of this, experts advise that you bring plenty of snacks to the airport when travelling by air. According to them, chances are, your child is not going to be amused for long by a little bag of airplane snacks. Most airlines have moved away from free snacks and others only provide pretzels or mixed nuts, which are neither friendly, not to children especially. Take time and pack some snacks for your child and remember, it is your duty to make him or her happy as you travel.

Travel with on-flight entertainment

As you work towards making your kid happy, you should also consider travelling with on-flight entertainment devices to keep him or her busy for the most part of the trip. Airports personnel say parents, especially those embarking on international flights with their kids, should learn to bring enough on-flight entertainment to keep their toddlers amused. They note that you should consider investing in a handheld DVD player with some of their favourite DVDS. For children who don’t have the chance to watch a lot of television, it will be a nice little treat and hopefully keep them in their seats. Pack favourite toys (none that contain small pieces, if they fall onto the floor you’ll probably never find them) and maybe some they’ve never seen before. Once you get them toys that they’ve not seen before, it will probably engage them for a long time and will make them remain where you can easily locate them.

Ask for empty seats on the plane

By getting an empty seat on the plane, you can lay your kid on it and this will give you some freedom and will ease your burden considerably. Flight personnel say once you’ve made it to the gate, don’t be afraid to ask the gate agent if there are any open seats on the plane. If the plane has a lot of open seats, some gate agents may allow you to move your seat to a relatively empty area. This will relieve some of the stress if the toddler gets upset or fidgety during the flight. Look for ways to ease the stress as you travel and make sure you get enough rest, as this is important.

-Okechukwu Nnodim

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