Tips for a long haul trip with a toddler and 4yr old

[Beabea]

A friend of mine is travelling long haul and was asking for tips mainly for the toddler 19months. He is quite active and they werent able to get a seat for him (cost).

Can anyone add any tips.

It will be dreadful.Once he accepts this,it becomes surprisingly easier to bear.
Bea,there are loads of threads on this already.

Go to the 'By Topic' at the top of the page,then choose 'Travel' and cast your eye over the thread titles.

Thanks. I have found a few tips for 4yr old and some for those under 1yr but need something to keep an active boy occupied for a day flight to USA.

Sorry meant to say the 19month boy.

If I have not posted so many times and at such lenght about ways to make long haul trips bearable with a baby/small child I would go into detail here... but... this time I will suggest you to search the threads under travel.

I have but didnt want to go through the whole lot esp as it isnt directly for me. Just doing a favour for a friend. How long ago did you post to give me an idea?

Ok found a few now but not sure its really what she was looking for. It was more for entertainment rather than feeding, sleeping and seating etc.

Have searched the archives and for some reason, threads from previous years are not showing in the results (Tech????)

These are what I consider the main things:

-"Go with the flow" is the most important piece of advise I was given.

• Don't give the kids anything with sugar on the day of the trip.

-ASk for the bulkhead seat when booking/checking in. That will give the kids a bit of extra space to play (and you could relax in the knowledge that they won't be disturbing the passenger in front via kicking the seat).

• Get a big bag of surprise toys, try to get small cheap ones, preferably the type that won't roll down and disapear under the seats (the sort of thing you would find as a gift in a fast food restaurants children meals it's ideal). And give one to each child when you have used all resources to keep them calm without success. THat gives you about 20-30 minutes of peace, or even longer with the older kids.

-I bore mine to sleep telling him the same stories but with excesive detail (instead of just saying they were in the park, I describe everything at the park ) -Take plenty of snacks (non smudgy type if you want to stay reasonably clean) and water, but again, avoid sugary things and that also includes juice and particularly Ribena!). Take food for the toddler, if he is not paying for a seat (or under 2) chances are his meal is not included even if you have selected it from the options when you booked in. We have been told this while doing the checkin at the airport so had to run to get him something that could last a few hours before boarding the plane.

• Tell her to get a change of clothes for each child and another one for herself.

HTH :)

Crossposted!

Things that worked for us were:
-Drawing boards (the one that need no pencils)
-Sticker books
-A favourite story book or cuddly object if they use one.
-Anything that fits the description of a happy meal toy. Some cheap toys you can get for party bags work very well too.

• Try to remember games that do not need bits and pieces to be played (like songs, etc) but avoid anything that winds them up (say griggles?)

-And forgetr about entertaining them ALL the time, they will also need quiet time and surely, one will cry himself to sleep. I have found that mine cries for less time if I follow the same procedure as when he cries at home than if I try to make him to stop. Yeah, some passengers will be getting stropy but...hey, we all have been children.

• Something that has helped me wonders to get the extra seat for the child is to appologise in advance with the passenger next to us, and say the baby has had a bad night. They are soooo quick to find an alternative empty seat and give you some extra space

Chandra Thanks they are all great suggestiongs. Especially the one about the child having a bad night :)