Reddit put me off flying with a toddler but y’all were wrong

[username12345]

@johnd Kids are different. My first was a good flyer and my second is a handful

 

[jam4jc]

@johnd We travel with our two toddlers long distance every year, it’s hit or miss. Last year we did a 5 hr car ride, 4 hr flight, then 4 hour layover before a 13 hr flight with our two toddlers. We leave tomorrow for a 13 hr flight with the toddlers.

 

[joy123]

@johnd Just had the worst flight of my life with my almost 3 year old. I was solo and the 4.5 year old was an angel but man it was ROUGH. I cried. I’m not a crier. We traveled halfway across the world to see family and I would 100% do it again, and I will next year (although hopefully with less meltdowns). It can suck, but I think if you’re committed you just have to mentally prepare for the worst. Not for nothing, our flight home was easy and uneventful!

 

[bcc12345]

@johnd I've never had a problem flying with my toddler. While I understand every child is different, I've also never been exposed to these feral toddlers reddit loves to complain about in any context - be it an airplane, restaurant, grocery store, etc. I'm of the belief that most of these horror stories we read about are creative writing assignments and rage bait written by angry teens and people on the extreme end of the child free spectrum.

 

[juliacon]

@johnd We to enjoy flying, since 4 mo to now 4 yr with our son.

Everything is circumstantial. And the internet typically casts negative shadows!

 

[chewie2278]

@johnd I was so optimistic going into our first 10 hour flight. My kiddo is easy going and a great sleeper. My kid (23 months at the time) cried/screamed for hours. I spent 1.5 hours in the toilet with her trying to muffle the cries as of course we were on a red eye. She finally fell asleep about 2.5 hours from our destination. I was just starting to doze myself when they turned the cabin lights on.
The way back was barely better, she wasn’t as inconsolable but she just wanted to party and yell. Another sleepless 24 hour travel day for me
Anyway, I think it’s a crapshoot, and could easily go either way.

 

[jake19]

@johnd Another moral of the story: who care??

Like really, that’s my mindset when traveling with our 1.5 year old. Who cares she’s being funny in the airport? Who cares she’s whiney while setting in our seat? Who cares?? Toddlers cry. As long as we stay calm and manage as best as possible, who cares what people around us think?

 

[afterthelordsheart]

@johnd Yeah we fly all the time. It’s completely fine. Just pack toys and snacks and prepare to be exhausted and covered in food/sick.

 

[haircare8h]

@johnd GL on your way back and in future trips.

 

[rccocina]

@johnd If your on Facebook there is this group called “traveling with babies and toddlers”
It has some super great advice and a very helpful community of parents who give tips before and after they have had success trying out these methods and products.
There are some very impressive scenarios that I could only dream of taking my kids on from driving 12 hours to 22 hour flights with multiple children. I highly recommend. Sometime I just read it for fun now because we have taken our first daughter on some cool vacations but now we have just welcomed a second and a vacation seems so far in the distance!

 

[00sweetpea00]

@johnd You're awesome. And thank you for sharing this update!!

I'm so sorry you're still getting railed for this! Wild.

Hooray for a net-positive flight.

 

[pena]

@johnd It all boils down to every kid is different. My 4yo was awake for 3hrs tops on a plane and then slept through even at the layover.Had to wake him upgoing through security and he was dozing again even before the seat belt sign turned off.

My only anxiety is him not eating .He is a poor eater if we travel and has motion sickness.

 

[starfaux]

@johnd Yeah… I’ve rarely had my kids sleep on planes, unfortunately. But to me, it’s still worth it versus a long car ride. I pull out all the stops and get random new little trinkets before we leave that they’ve never seen and wait until they’re losing it to start pulling them out on the plane. Same with exciting snacks. I also will screenshot pictures of Elmo or whatever character they’re in to be able to swipe through on my phone, which normally buys us some time in addition to downloading shows ahead of time. Traveling with kids is about survival

 

[teddy2468]

@johnd My friend just flew with her baby and my advice was “Don’t stress, it’ll likely go better than you expect.” Traveling with kids CAN be horrible, but I think we hear a lot more about the bad experiences than the good ones.

 

[advikasharma]

@johnd I think it all comes down to acceptance. I’m in the middle of a vacation with my almost 20 months old and we have traveled by plane, car, train, metro, tram, and lots of time on foot with the stroller and I can say there have been times where she was extremely frustrated and other times she was relatively better.

We also flew with her on my lap and it was only a 3 hour flight and it wasn’t exactly easy. But then I accepted I’m no longer a solo traveler so that’s to be expected. It was a bit better on the 3.5 hour train ride where she had her own seat.

We were on a regional 15 min train today and there were soccer fanatics with us and we were really crammed in front of the door and she was crying and screaming and just so tired and also probably hungry and wanted the boob and that was the most desperate part of our journey so far.

We did a similar vacation last year and it was just cakewalk

 

[firebug71]

@johnd I thought I'd seen mostly positive anecdotes here?

 

[spanu00]

@johnd But HOW did you keep him calm ON the plane

 

[johnd]

@spanu00 Tbh he was quite entertained by the environment but I bought his sleep bunny, new toys he’d never seen before, books, Ms Rachel and an inflatable foot rest that was a lifesaver for the 5 hour flight where he was a lap baby, he could rest his head on me and lay his legs out without them dangling

 

[spanu00]

@johnd Ooh do you have a link to the foot rest?

 

[falconsbrah]

@johnd What a way to say that! No one was wrong, you just had one single good experience.