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

Literally that, would not have entered my children’s head to have been an option available to them.

Toddlers dont run around on aircraft as parents dont allow it

What an excellent idea!!

Don't be so ingenuous.

There are loads of reasons why a child might be an unhappy plane passenger.

Not every parent has such perfect children.

Is there another adult who would go? If so the two would be split anyway. One with each child.

I have four, under eight now, and we did it last year for first time. Just Spain. It was so exciting and tiring. Lollies for ears. But they were all wonderful.

I don’t think a plane to them sends the same run around vibes as a cinema. And we did lots of practice beforehand. I am a great believer in teaching when it’s a serious situation we listen. So yeah screaming and being fed up in a cinema. Fair enough. Doing that on a road side no chance. In the farm yard. No chance.

pick your battles, prepare your team.

my kids are no angels, by god the youngest is absolutely wild. And without a doubt was removed from the pool area for tantrums.

look at flight times as well. We flew at 6am. So up at 1am. Drive to airport, wee sleep, bacon sandwich, into plane. Massive excitement. Flat out.

i can get my head round these threads?
We flew from Australia back-and-forth more times and I care to remember with four young children on my own and they never screamed. Why would they scream?

It's probably the only only time that all bets are off and he gets anything and everything he wants to make him play ball.

I flew with mine from when they were babies, it was always fine. Would never have taken a 3yo to the cinema though.

You can threaten to not go to the beach / pool / park when you get there? Depends how long the flight is and here you're going I suppose

Of course you're right - if they, or anyone really, decides to kick off on a plane there isn't much you can do. If it were me I'd work super hard to distract distract distract, bribe, bring the serious voice and physically restrain them if it really came to it. But no one can predict it - and you can't get off!! You just have to push on through.

As far as other passengers are concerned I think the vast majority will be understanding if they see you are really truly doing your best, so try not to worry too much!

I think you can only judge your faith in their temperament, your tolerance for if it does go tits up, and make your choice based on both. Delay if necessary (and possible), you will leave the UK again one day!

I also always book DD in the window seat so she can look out/stretch onto me too

None of mine were/are big on food either to be honest. But for 2.5 hours they were entertained with colouring/stickers/games/an episode of Bluey etc.

Yes I guess so. But for us, to not go on a plane because there was a tiny weeny chance that they might behave in a way that they had never behaved before in their lives would have been extreme, especially as our entire family live in another country.

Mine sort of did. She wouldn’t watch anything on iPad or phone (did for 2 mins then just wasn’t interested). We wrapped little presents, had a million snacks etc. it was manageable but when it was time for descent I had to force her into her seat and lean over/pin her down as she kept escaping. She purple face screamed until we landed. She was only 2 and a few weeks and just wanted a cuddle but obvs wasn’t allowed one then. I was very stressed but everyone around us was very nice, offering her chocolate buttons etc. We only went as it was a big family holiday. I’m hoping it gets a bit easier in a couple of years when they understand a bit more!

You can control the environment to an extent. I take a blanket, pillow of some description, eye mask - we have a couple of pillow type things depending on flight times. Seat to sleep used to work but she's a bit bigger now and the last time we flew easyjet seats were definitely smaller

But you would stop the seat kicking I hope?

Snacks, colouring, snacks, tablet, snacks, game, snacks, toilet, snack 😅 you get the gist. DD first flew at 2 when facemasks were still a thing. We don't fly often and had an occasional late night where she won't sleep but generally have a bag of stuff. Now she's 6 is loads easier. She likes the airport so keep moving as long as we can, I've just booked a trip in December that's the furthest we've been the 2 of us. She'll be so excited I think it'll be the toughest yet

I guess that’s just where our experience differs. I was fairly confident that if mine kicked off on the plane I would be able to control them, because they’d never kicked off before in a way that I was unable to control them. Does that make sense? So yes, it may have been the case that the plane journey was the first time that they ever had a tantrum where I was completely unable to control their behaviour, but it seemed unlikely as that was never a situation we’d been in before. And thankfully I was right! You’re right, you can’t 100% guarantee it, but it would have been completely out of character as we’d never before been in a situation where they’d kicked off and couldn’t be controlled.

You preempt with non sugary snacks, screens and a New little distraction every 30 mins. We bought mini little motorbike, little pack of stickers etc.

What do you do if they actually kick off?close your eyes, hold them tight and hope for the best !

18 months was our worst. Messed up nap timings so DS had a massive nap in the airport and then was wide awake for the flight. It was about 5 hours. He was not remotely interested in any of the books, toys or games we had brought. There was a lot of screaming. Someone from the cabin crew tried to help us by picking him up and he totally freaked out. It is the closest I have come to having a total meltdown in public myself. I actually can't remember how we got through it, except for pacing around a tiny space trying to calm him. He must have fallen asleep at some point, and I think we let him have some of the cake that came with the airline meal.

DS's opinion of the ordeal: "Plane. Off. Bye-bye"