In Reply to: children and planes posted by balibrigi on Saturday, 12. January 2008 at 22:17 Bali Time:
Each time I take my daugher on a plane trip I pack a number of small cheap surprise presents. I wrap them in cheap gift wrap and sometimes if the packaging is bulky I remove it so that we dont have to dispose of it on the plane. I estimate how long each item will keep her happy and give her a new one to open when I think she is getting restless. If the trip is 4 hours I would allow around about 30 minutes for each item. I find all sorts of simple things for her to do at the cheap shops like clints or the reject shop. Colouring sets, card games, Little toys that she can play with and a few things that we can do together like books or puzzles. This keeps her occupied through most of the flight and occasionally a little break walking up and down the plane helps. When she was younger I also bought a hand held leapster game which helped to keep her occupied. Apart from the usual snacks etc this makes the flight much easier. I even had a stewardes comment on how well prepared we were and how it kept her occupied. One word beware the noise the toilet makes on the plane when it is flushed. My daughter is still petrified of them after getting the biggest shock on one of her first toilet visits on the plane. Overnight return flight she is usually so tired as the departure is so late that she is asleep before we even take off. Hope this is of some help