Long flight with 7 yr old - any tips on his anxiety/jetlag?

[Tinaarena]

Im taking my ds to New York in the half term, its been booked a while and hes been so excited for stand keeps asking questions - but more recently those questions have been about the flight, the plane, what if it crashes, what it we dont make it etc... Ive so far tried to answer his fears practically - mentioning how many safety checks are done before the planes even allowed to leave, they have products on board for almost every emergency and have pre thought of everything that could go wrong and are prepared for it etc... anything to calm him down but for every answer give him he gives me 10 more questions.

Also the jet lag... im dreading it. mine can be bad but i'm old enough to go to sleep - he is 7 and thinks hes invincible and wont be told he's tired. Anyone dealt with it, what did you do/how did you cope?

I kept it simple with my two before an 11 hour flight. Just reassured them that it would be fine and then changed the subject to something exciting that we were going to do or see once we got there.

The flight itself was hell. The 9 year old slept but the 7 year old woke me up every half hour to complain that they could not sleep. This is despite making sure that they had everything that they needed including ear plugs, eye mask, snacks, drink, etc..... However they weren't scared once on the plane as they had a tv screen to themself and watched movies etc...

I think thats exactly what will happen with my 7 yr old too, once hes even at the airport and then on the plane he'll be fine.

Its the sleep thing that worries me, were leaving the house at 3am to get to the airport for a 6am flight. then 2 hour stop in Belgium, next flight to America and then dealing with jet lag and the time difference and tiredness and im wondering why im even bothering.

Dealing with jet lag really depends on what time your flight is. I like to get a flight later in the day — usually any time from after 5pm, meaning that we arrive in New York anywhere from around 8pm. Clearing security, collecting bags and getting into the city can be around two hours or more. By the time we get to our accommodation, we’re absolutely knackered and can go straight to bed and hopefully avoid being wide awake in the early morning hours.
Flying east is harder than flying west because we don’t have as long to adjust to the new environment since the timezone is ahead, so he shouldn’t be too bad, but you can still do some things to help:
Slightly adjust his bedtime before the trip. As you’re going west, move his bedtime later.
Keep him well hydrated.
Vitamin D, fresh air and a little exercise are the best things when you land in a new time zone and are suffering from jet lag with kids. Unless you arrive at night and can go right to sleep, plan on dropping your bags at your hotel and hitting the streets. Exposure to the sun will help him adjust his internal clock naturally and get back in sync with day and night.
Get him onto local time asap.
Try to eat at the right times for where you are, and not to keep telling yourself, ‘Well, at home, we would be doing this”. Forget the clock back at home.
Expect him to wake up in the very early hours of the morning. Try to keep him in his bed with a book, an iPad or a toy until a “reasonable” hour! A benefit for travelling east is that you beat most of the tourists to attractions. When I flew with my dc to San Francisco last summer, they woke up at 4am the first day. The upside — we were the first people in the park, took the earliest boat tour and saw loads before lunchtime!

Regarding his anxiety, try to tire him out as much as possible before getting on the plane.

My first flight was as a young child.

I sat with one parent who loved flying and filled me full of the infectious excitement. I adore it to this day!

My older brother sat with our other parent who is scared of flying and guess what..

The more you answer the "what if xyz goes wrong", the worse he'll be. Instead, treat it as if it was the most exciting theme park/day out/whatever experience he loves the most.

Jet lag going to New York is not generally too bad as you are going back in time. Are you on a day or night flight? If the former, maybe encourage a little nap, but then keep him up until a slightly earlier than normal bedtime (I.e if he goes to bed at 8 in the Uk, try t one him awake until 6-7 US time. He’ll be tired, but it should help him re-set qui quickly (perhaps with a short nap the following day if needed).

We’re on a 6am flight and we arrive around 2 New York time.
I’ve been a few times and will always head straight out try to stay awake as long as possible but it’s my ds I’m worried about being Kranky and over tired on this trip.

We've done a lot of long haul as relatives live a 14 hour flight away. Screens and food are the way forward.

Jet lag, not much you can do about it, it takes mine two days to get over it each way. Eat local time / sleep local time as soon as you can on the plane. Be prepared to be up early and go to bed early.

Jet lag going to New York is not generally too bad as you are going back in time.

Jet lag to New York is horrible! We now try to land in the evening if we can so we can go to bed at a reasonable time.

I've been a couple of times where the flight arrived in the early afternoon and it was terrible. You potter around all afternoon but by 5pm local time you can barely keep your eyes open as you've been up since sparrow's fart to get to the airport! We've invariably fallen asleep in the early evening and woken up bright as a button at 3am, which is a hard cycle to get out of.

I never got jet lag until I was a lot older than 7!

The flight isn't really all that long and the time difference - well just cut the difference and try to function somewhere between the two times (closer to the time where you are).

Have you got an itinerary (can I come too?). I've been a few times with DS who is 15 now and he just doesnt sleep on the way out and hits the ground running (I used to do that going to NZ when I was young!).

Ok. He goes to bed as normal, and has an early start - roll out of bed, into traveling clothes and into car/taxi. No restrictions on screens on the planes. Get a decent pair of child size headphones, and a set of universal jack converters.
Its then an extremely long day, but frankly it's you who gets it worse, because you dont get a nights sleep before you set off...

DS used to go 4 hrs sleep before getting on the plane, then keep going for the next 20 hrs.... I was a zombie!

Well I’m going to go against the majority and say don’t stress too much - if you’re only there a few days can you live with getting up at 5am? You can go and see the breakfast tv shows being filmed at Rockefeller or TImes Sq... be first in line for breakfast at Annette’s stardust diner etc. Book early visits to the sights you want to see, an early dinner and bed.