To wonder what you do if your toddler kicks off on a plane?

I relax all my rules for a flight. We have a tablet just for travel. Unlimited Peppa and Zog and snacks galore. Soon as we get back home the tablet goes away again. Or that doesn’t work you just grin and bear it and hope never to see those people again haha

Done a few plane journeys with our two kids and had a mixed bag, you just HAVE to prepare. My biggest tips is activities. I printed drawings about things they like specifically. I wrapped up lollies in old wrapping paper so it took them ages to open, same with snacks. The BEST one was actually rolls of colourful masking tape. He was being noisey so had a game of sticking tape over our mouths and pretending to talk. Found it hilarious. Tape moustaches, tape jewellery, tape the window closed, tape our feet together anything really did that most of the way!!

You just simply grin and bare it and try your hardest to get them through it. We have two and the first one was always fine flying, second one has been generally pretty fine also but last year on the way home from spain he screamed, kicked, cried and fought me for approximately 2 entire hours. He was over tired and we were sat at the back of the plane. I just had to hold on to him for dear life to stop him kicking chairs and try and calm him down. He eventually fell asleep 20 minutes before we were due to begin our descent and I swore that was the last he would fly, but then we went again 3 months later and he was calm and happy. You just get on with it as you have no choice. My daughter sat happily while he lost the plot!

I don’t think anyone has mentioned before boarding or after disembarking…. Surprised as there are so many issues at the moment. First flight at 2.5 security outbound shut down - yup just stopped- and we waited 1.5 hours during which time a kind security guy tried to get ahead of the game by stashing all the buggies ready to go through. My child lost the plot and launched himself at the buggy line and refused to let go of his own buggy. This was just a rehearsal for the way back where he failed to comprehend you can’t just get on any old plane and attempted to part the locked doors of the nearest gate with a plane on. I physically restrained him and ended up thanking the lord I wore a vest as my entire shirt became unbuttoned in the tussle. Oh yeah and then otherside the queue for passport control was 1.5 hours and he screamed so loud we were removed from the queue and fast tracked. You know what people hate more than screaming kids? Queuejumpers. And yes, I googled the heck out of tips and had snacks, little toys, books. None of it worked. I’m afraid we just holidayed in the UK for many years thereafter.

Wow, you’ve been extremely unlucky. Even before I had kids I was thankful that people around me seemed to be doing their best for their children not to disrupt others on flights. Not that it really bothers me for the sake of 2 hours or so if a toddler is whingy, I used to just put my earplugs in.

We did Florida with a 3 year old and a 13month old - had to due to family wedding! Thought it would be horrendous but actually we did as other have suggested - bag full of surprises, screen time and lots of laps of the plane! Must say the bigger planes are easier as you can literally do laps and lots of others were doing the same!

You try your best and you are honest and upfront with your fellow passengers
nothing worse than parents doing nothing and thinking everyone else should enjoy their offspring expressing themselves

From what I've witnessed,parents with a toddler kicking off on a plane don't do anything. They just sit looking at their phones while their offspring pisses everyone else off. This isn't just on planes though. Seems to be everywhere nowadays.

Yes, we had that with both of mine many years ago. Tried distraction, placation, food etc., wouldn't stop screaming long enough to engage. In the end, we apologised to the people around us for what was coming and let them scream it out together with kicks, punches and attempting to scratch and bite when they couldn't take the lap belt off. After 30 minutes of sounding like we were killing them they ran out of steam. We had an hour of intermittent sobs and they eventually wore themselves out and fell asleep. Not ideal and hard work so don't go too far on your first plane journey would be my advice.

I think you just step up to it when you are in situation like a plane. Sometimes it’s at your own expense by physically restraining them, sometimes you have to be a lot sterner than you’d like to be.

Plan well for distractions - new toys, sticker books, TV programmes etc.

I travelled on my own from US to UK about three times a year with DD from about 9 months. Toddler years were hard but sometimes a fellow passenger helps you out, or a flight attendant.

I used to map out each hour of the seven hour flight - first hour the plane is new and distracting - a second hour interactive toy like a sticker book, third hour meal which is fun on a plane for kids, fourth hour a TV show, fifth hour loo trip and a little walk around etc etc

We flew to New Zealand with an 18month and a 3 yr old. Lots of toys they haven’t seen before brought out at intervals, snacks and screens. Only problem was that the youngest slept lying across my lap for 8 hours and I nearly lost the use of my legs!
Stewards were superb offering fruit snacks and toys.
Worst flight was coming home from Menorca with 3rd child who screamed and clawed my face as we got on the plane a constantly tried to get the attention of other passengers all through the flight. Not an experience I’d like to repeat!
So I suppose it depends dry much on the child and what sort of mood they are in.

*dh not sh

Happily past this stage now. I bought a cheap toy or two for both fights. I wrapped them up with a bit more cell tape than I really needed. Got one out part way through and they always found it more exciting that it had been wrapped up.
I also hid some well liked small toys for a while before the trip and they magically appeared on the plane!
Good luck.

On a plane all my usual plans go out the window, distraction, fuss, bribery, whatever works

My 2yr old kicked off when we got on a plane earlier this year. He got really scared. Initially he was excited and we’d gone to watch planes take off and land, watched shows about it and bought toys. He lost his little mind the moment we walked on. A woman in the row behind kept trying to make eye contact with me so I would know she was pissed off. I’m not a wallflower so I met her stare with one of my own. I wasn’t exactly vibing at that moment either.

Calmed him down by just talking calmly and lots of cuddles. Brought out some new toy cars that we’d saved for the journey and the ‘good’ snacks. He sat in his seat the whole 8hrs, only getting up to change his nappy. He didn’t want to move. After the first ten mins he didn’t get upset again. Eventually fell asleep after he was stuffed full of crisps. My youngest loved the plane. It was a battle to keep him from partying 😂

That's what I did and never had an issue. Easier than entertaining sh on a flight!😀

None of mine were allowed on a plane until they could behave 😂 so 4/5 and above. I can't be arsed listening to it so wouldn't subject a plane load of folk to it 🤣

We took my daughter aged 2 1/2 on a 91/2 hour flight to Orlando, she napped thank goodness so that helped but I also had enough activities for the whole plane to be entertained, if needed. She watched old Mickey mouse shows and was a pleasure to have. I also had snacks galore too. They might surprise you if you explain to them what is expected on a flight. 🥰

I was taking 5hr journeys on my own when mine were 3 and newborn. They knew it was an option to run up and down the train, the days before ipad / screens, in the early days at least. My nephew is a nightmare on transport and they say they can’t stop him running up the aisle. I don’t understand that tbh. Mine weren’t perfect but they didn’t do what they liked and to hell to anyone else on board.

No it’s not, but it’s 2 hours. I’m sure most adults can cope for a couple of hours. People say that children nowadays lack resilience, but a lot of adults seem unable to cope with short periods of discomfort caused by children (who are equally entitled to be in public spaces).

Not nice foe everyone else tho

When mine screamed all the way (to those asking the flight was to Spain so about two hours) it was because he was a few days later diagnosed with an ear infection and therefore the changes in cabin pressure had caused a massive amount of ear pain.

he was 18 months at the time and had very limited language and understanding.

there’s not a hell of a lot you can do in those circumstances - we had books and snacks etc but an 18 month old in a lot of pain realistically is going to cry.

we didn’t have calpol or similar in our cabin bags.

we did fly with them when they were five (twins) and they were very well behaved. However we always always had a large packet of sweets to help equalise air pressure and took calpol with us into the cabin.

I remember one time when I travelled alone with my 2 year old and baby at the time another passenger had to carry my baby and luggage as I wrestled my screaming toddler off the plane when we landed. I always find the way home worse as they are generally overstimulated and exhausted.
I just use my mantra that the time will pass and it won’t last for long!

Laughing at some replies here - 'talk to them and explain the situation' - yeah, that's going to work with a tired, distressed under 2.

What do you do? Quite frankly there's not much you can do if the circumstances align badly - so delays, having to travel because of ... (sibling family wedding)

There is a world of difference between a placid 3 year old and an under 2 that does not understand reasoning or threats in the future.

You contain as much as possible so within the space you have available (ie your seats, not anywhere else).

Sometimes a trip to the loos to run cold water on the hands and head of the purple screaming monster will give the cabin a brief respite from the hell that you have inflicted on them.

Drinks, food, technology - would just be a missile for a toddler in the throws of a full on 'I want to... get off the plane, sleep, run around, don't really know why ' tantrum. You sometimes have to wait until they exhaust themselves and hopefully sleep (no such luck for me)

My experience was that people that I thought had every right to be pretty pissed off were actually quite sympathetic - as long as they can see you are doing everything you can to silence the monster.

Our cabin crew actually suggested that the captain was quite concerned about the welfare of the child - were they actually very sick?? (Nope - they were just very very persistent). Their attempts to give them a teddy (thrown across cabin - both my hands were wrapped around said child at the time) - they suggested drugging them (had already done so) and eventually they moved us into their area at the back of the plane to limit the noise.

We did not fly again until they were in double digits. If I had known how badly it was going to go I would have apologised to my sibling and stayed at home.

They had been angelic on the flight in.

I've often wondered this myself OP - fortunately we've never experienced it with DD as she was quite happy to sit and be distracted with toys/stickers/ books/tablet/food and the ratio was 2 adults to 1 child. We've now got 18m old DS too and thought of flying with him brings me out in a cold sweat 😆. We're driving and getting the ferry this year.