Flight attendant and mom Toni Vitanza, who lives in Clemson, S.C., and has written for EmpoweringParents.com, offers tips for flying with a child. Passengers sitting nearby will appreciate them, too.   
- Brief kids about the flight. Tell them to follow your and crews' instructions and to use "inside voices" on the plane.
- Bring car seats for young ones. A child should be in them when the seat belt sign is on. They are safer than a baby in your lap.
- Carry only what's needed for the flight: diapers, wipes, a few toys, some snacks. If you let your kids wheel on little suitcases full of Cheerios and Legos, or toys that make noise, you deserve a middle seat forever!
- If nursing, bring a shawl or blanket.Pumped breast milk and formula can be brought through TSA checkpoints.
- Bring headsets, splitters for DVD players. Forcing all around you to listen to the umpteenth Barney video is guaranteed to get fellow fliers fuming.
- Encourage kids to practice "please," "excuse me" and "thank you." You might offer a nickel or other reward for each unprompted, polite expression.
- Do not allow a child to stand on a seat or kick seatbacks. If they persist, call a flight attendant, take kids' shoes off. Do something!
- This is not the time to focus on that book you're dying to read. Or to nap, or get sloshed. It's not "me time" for parents, sorry.
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My daughter Gisele, when she was 2years old, on a flight from São Paulo to Paris.
ResponderExcluirGisele during one of her flights... Always accompanied by a doll, some books to color and to read, an electronic game, a notebook and so on...