My son is currently 9 years old. He flew for the first time when he was 10 months old and we flew down to Florida for cruises about twice a year up until the pandemic hit. He had his iPad; I had my iPad. We were both entertained. Easy peasy!
In November 2020, he was 7 and his baby sister was 9 months old. Yet again, he was pretty self sufficient. His sister wasn't too much to handle. On the flight down, she slept most of the flight. On the way back, if she wasn't breastfeeding, she was playing in my lap or on the seat next to me. It was a little work, but nothing unmanageable.
Fast forward to April 2022.... She's now 26 months old, he's 9 years old, and their baby sister is 2 weeks away from turning 1!!
I'm not going to lie, I was terrified. My 2 year old daughter is now a wild child that has a hard time sitting still. My younger daughter likes to be entertained or breastfed at all times. Otherwise the "dinosaur" comes out and she screams. How in the world will we handle these flights?!
To my surprise, with a little bit of planning, we managed to have stress free, successful flights! 🙌
How did we manage?
Quite simple!
First, I had to sacrifice my iPad and downloaded several movies from Disney+. Basically all the current favorites and some.
I also purchased 2 headphone sets that connect into each other so they both can watch/listen to the same movie (see below).
Then, I strategically bought several Magic Ink coloring books but did not let the girls see them prior to the flight. Read that again: Magic Ink. You know, the marker that writes clear unless it goes on the special paper that then changes colors.... So when the inevitable happens and there's coloring on things other than the paper, it's no biggie because it's clear!
I also purchased a small toy for each girl that they've never seen. I actually, did not need to pull them out! So they're being saved for our next flights to Jamaica which will be an hour longer each way.
Finally, snacks! Several options at that.
Prior to taking off, the girls were climbing all over the seat and looking out the window. Then it was time to get seat belts on and take off. The 2 year old looked out the window and was very calm as she wasn't too sure what was happening. The almost 1 year old went straight to breastfeeding and fell asleep.
Once we were at 10,000 feet and the 2 year old got bored of seeing nothing but clouds below us, I pulled out my iPad and opened up the queue of downloaded movies. Her eyes lit up in excitement and she selected her movie. I put the headphones on her, handed her a snack and sat back while she enjoyed part of the movie.
She lasted maybe 40 minutes before she got bored of that. Out came the Magic Ink pad! That was entertainment for another 20 or so minutes.
Then came the flight attendant with snacks and a beverages! Guess what came back out at this point? The movie!
Then baby sister woke up. Snacks! Oh wait, is that a movie on?! Put the headphones on her too.... and they both sat together watching the movie while eating their snacks. Then baby sister wanted to draw too. Next thing we know, we're descending to our destination!!
The 2 hour flight flew by!
Then the return trip was even easier! Baby sister slept all but 20 minutes of the flight. The 2 year old immediately selected her movie, had her snacks, colored a new book, had more snacks, discovered Angry Birds on my iPad, and was amazed by the ground below due to the lack of clouds on the return flight.
I had so much anxiety about this flight for months but it turned out to be such a pleasant experience! All it took was a little bit of planning!
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