Travel: Flying With Young Kids

We tend to take a vacation at least once a year. I would rather spend my money traveling than on things. But don't get me wrong, we have plenty of things too. That being said, we didn't start taking our son with us until just 1 ½ short years ago when he was 3 ½. Now, he has just turned 5 and we took him on a plane for the 3rd time (8th if you count round trips and layovers). I'm no expert by any means, but I have been lucky enough to have a near-perfect child during these flights! He's a brat sometimes, but with lots of planning and research, I have found different ways to entertain him. Even with all this planning, it has been by pure luck that we haven't had a meltdown with crying and yelling. Here are some of my tips for a toddler happy flight:

1. Bring snacks. You don't necessarily need to pack a large amount of snacks, but rather a large variety of snacks. Kids get distracted and bored of snacks as easily as they do with toys. So they may only eat a little bit of something and then want to move on to another thing.

2. Bring something to draw/color with. This can be as simple as a pencil and some plain paper. Kids don't care. They just love to draw and color. Older children will appreciate the coloring pages more. What I do is print out some coloring pages that have something to do with our destination. Disney Cruise: Mickey, Nemo, Olaf, etc. Universal Studios Resort: Spiderman, Minions, Harry Potter, etc. The Beach (anywhere): Starfish, Whale, the Beach, etc.

3. Bring Travel Presents. These don't have to be anything overly grand, but my mom used to give me travel presents when I was little and I loved it so I now do it for my boy. This last trip was during his birthday so some of the gifts he got this time were a little bigger than normal, but you'll get the idea. Some of the things he got include: Spiderman Pez, Avengers Play Pack (seriously! Those play packs are awesome!), a couple books (for nightly storytime), a new movie, some Lego minifigures, and some twistables crayons (to go with those coloring pages I printed out)! We even wrapped them up in tissue paper so they were like real presents.

4. Load some movies and TV shows onto your phone. Or bring a portable DVD player. If you're one of those people that has very strict screen time rules for your kids, I get it, but this is supposed to be vacation and it's most likely that while you're at your destination, your kids will be doing things and not watching TV so just relax on those rules for the short couple of hours you'll be traveling.

5. Go to the bathroom right before your plane starts boarding. Kids have small bladders. If they need to pee during the flight, sometimes it's really difficult to get back to the bathroom. When they bring those huge carts through to get you a drink, it's really difficult to get past them sometimes and trying to do that with a child is nearly impossible. It's just easier to go potty before you leave. But even then, sometimes you have to make a trip to the back for the bathroom.

6. Pack light. I know so many people are into the whole carry-on luggage thing where they pack everything for their trip in their carry-ons and not check any luggage. I'm not one of those people. In fact, most of the time, I find some of these people to be extremely annoying. Why? Because they stand right next to the counter and wait so they can be the first person in their boarding group to board so that they can take up all the overhead space and not leave any room for anyone else. It doesn't really seem fair that I'm the first person to be anywhere near my seat and the overhead space is already taken. Well, this is the reason that my husband and I started bringing small, tiny carry-ons. My son has a small backpack. I have a large purse. My husband has a regular-sized backpack. That's it. We don't bring a giant carry on plus our personal item. This really does make everything easier though when traveling with a child. You have less things to worry about. You have less things to keep track of.

7. Go with the flow. This is very important. Sometimes flights get delayed. Sometimes kids throw hissy fits. Sometimes other people are extremely rude and as much as I want to yell at them to quit being a jerk, it's important to remember that this is your vacation and there's no reason to get upset. In the end, everything will work itself out. If the airline loses your luggage, just go to the store and buy some cheap t-shirts and some toiletries to get you through (keep your expensive electronics in your carry-on).

What are some of your tips for flying with kids? I want to know!