Hi guys, Melissa here from CloudMom.
So, one of the things I've been really fortunate to do with my kids is to fly with them a lot
on airplanes.
We've been lucky enough to travel, we've gone to Europe quite a few times to visit family,
my mother is Swedish, we have a lot of family in Europe.
And, you know, I've gotten quite used to the whole grueling process of getting five kids
on a plane.
It's gotten a bit easier with age, my kids are now 6 to 13, but it still requires a tremendous
amount of organization and planning and sort of thinking through what are all the things
that can happen to make sure everybody has as easy flight as possible.
So with all that being said, here are five tips when it comes to plane travel with slightly
older kids.
Ok, so the first tip, and I know this is stating the obvious and I've given this tip before,
do not over pack.
This will add to your stress, you might think oh it's fine, we have room in the car, every
kid can have their own suitcase, but you know what?
It is going to weigh you down.
Even if you're changing terminals at the airport, say you need to get everybody into one taxi,
you are going to be much better off if you have less stuff and you are not going to need
most of the things you bring.
This is not Vogue, the trend lately is that everybody is so casual anyway, you don't have
to worry about everybody like looking great, and it's fun to mix it up anyway.
So bring very, very little.
You might also be planning to buy a thing or two on your trip so make sure you save
room for that.
This will greatly reduce your stress because transportation will be easier, packing will
be easier, and you should really be able to streamline your whole experience if you have
less stuff, ok?
So that is tip number one.
My second tip, and this particularly applies to international flights, is to leave ridiculously
early.
I live in New York City, the traffic can be ridiculous.
Kennedy Airport can get so crowded, especially around the holidays, it's a horrible feeling
to show up at the airport and have, you know, 150-200 people in line before you checking
in.
It's not fun, nobody wants to stand in line and by the way, you're not going to be able
to sort out or solve any of those little issues you have when you're down to the wire trying
to check in.
You also have to leave tons of time for security because that as you all know can take a really,
really long time.
So for the flight we plan to, you know, soon take we're going to be getting to the airport,
a day ahead!
No I'm just kidding, four hours before the flight, I'm not kidding.
When we do that and we're the first to check in, everybody's relaxed, we go through security,
we have like a nice leisurely meal, we wander over to our gate, and there is no stress.
This is what I highly, highly recommend.
Tip number three, because I don't want my kids on cell phones the whole time, I actually
think airports are a really, really interesting place as are airplanes.
When I was little and I would take the plane to Sweden with my sister, we would actually
get to know people on the plane, we would make friends.
We'd braid each other's hair, we'd paint each other's nails, we do all these fun things
and we would actually meet people.
Well, people don't really do that anymore and it's a little bit sad, you can talk to
your neighbor but nobody's like waltzing, you know, around the plane increasing their
network of social contacts but I still do think it's good number one for kids to just
observe what's going on around them and all the different people and the diversity of
people coming from different places and all the kind of cool people you see in an airport,
I think that's good.
And number two, I don't think it's good to be on, for kids to be on phone or iPads nor
does my doctor nor do most experts for, you know, 12 hours, so bring some other things
to do.
Bring a book, bring a book that was assigned for school or go to the bookstore, get your
kid a book first and if they're really begging for their phone and they're really giving
you a hard time, give them a limit.
Say you know what?
I want 50 pages and then you can have that phone for 15 minutes.
Take control and use that time for them to do something productive.
Kids are so busy these days with sports, activities, homework, they don't have a lot of time to
read, they don't have a lot of time to draw.
My girls are going to have like sticker books, they're just going to have sort of fun, non
messy, transportable project like things to make the trip a little more fulfilling, so
recommend that you guys pack those things up too and all the kids can have these things
in their own backpack.
Next tip, start packing ridiculously early, a week, even two weeks before.
Make a very, very detailed list, get all the big items in there, then start to think about
the smaller items a couple days before, the night before you should just be like popping
in a little extra thing and the day of you should just be adding your toiletries case.
Otherwise it's too stressful, you will forget things, and that will cost you time on arrival.
I highly recommend this; it's really made it possible for me to travel a lot with minimal
stress especially considering that I have a very chaotic household.
My final tip, and this applies to older kids as much as it does to younger kids, keep your
kids very well fed and hydrated and try to make sure they get as much rest as possible.
We have the biggest meltdowns, and this applies to my teenagers, it's usually that they're
hungry or they're starving or they're like really bummed out that they didn't play in
a basketball game or they didn't play well or something like that, and they're hungry
or tired.
These two things are so essential with kids, they are for us adults too.
I noticed my husband getting quite grumpy when his stomach is empty, and you know the
saying, you know the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, well I think this
is really, really true for kids.
So definitely bring all those snacks, but not sugary snacks.
Bring crackers, bring like cookies but not the ones that are super sweet, forget about
candy, forget about big desserts, try to keep the sugar to a minimum, but make sure that
you have plenty of stuff so that your kids are fed, they're not starving, and make sure
they're drinking a lot so that they stay well hydrated.
And you're going to see, I think, better behavior.
Traveling for most people is incredibly stressful, you stepped outside of your comfort zone,
you're dealing with unknowns, you're dealing with airplanes, you're dealing with delays,
you're dealing with being in a new place where you feel disoriented.
People are tired, they're not at their best in terms of how they behave, either you or
your kids.
Focus on all these things, try my five tips.
If all else fails and things are really running amok and going haywire, concentrate on breathing
deeply, try not to say too much instead of like exploding at your kids, just try to stay
calm, keep breathing, and remind yourself that in the end you're going to have an amazing
trip, it's going to be so enriching and it will all be worthwhile.
Wishing you guys an amazing trip.