Taking my 19 month old boy to Hawaii next Saturday

**JWIL4CY** · 01-07-2013, 02:06 PM

Just do your best to keep them happy and then don't sweat it. I would rather listen to a crying child than an obnoxious adult any day.

**cyhawkdmb** · 01-07-2013, 02:18 PM

Now you got me nervous.. Im taking a 5.5 year old and a 3.5 year old to Orlando the first of Feburary.. The 5.5 has been on a couple flights, but it has been a couple years. We havnt flown with the 3.5 year old... We should be able to keep them busy between 2 Ipads, a Iphone and a Portable DVD player... Im hoping to get one of the Ipads but probably wont.

**Cycsk** · 01-07-2013, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by cyhawkdmb

Now you got me nervous.. Im taking a 5.5 year old and a 3.5 year old to Orlando the first of Feburary.. The 5.5 has been on a couple flights, but it has been a couple years. We havnt flown with the 3.5 year old... We should be able to keep them busy between 2 Ipads, a Iphone and a Portable DVD player... Im hoping to get one of the Ipads but probably wont.

Make sure that your children (and parents) know what "no" means. It amazes me how many parents tell their children to stop doing something and the kids just go on doing it with the parents not paying attention.

**ISUKing** · 01-07-2013, 02:35 PM

movies worked for us, we have a portable DVD player that we just sat on the fold out tray so they couldn't drop it or mess with it.

**MNclone** · 01-07-2013, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by cyhawkdmb

Now you got me nervous.. Im taking a 5.5 year old and a 3.5 year old to Orlando the first of Feburary.. The 5.5 has been on a couple flights, but it has been a couple years. We havnt flown with the 3.5 year old... We should be able to keep them busy between 2 Ipads, a Iphone and a Portable DVD player... Im hoping to get one of the Ipads but probably wont.

My kids are 3.5 and 6.5 now. We flew to AZ last summer and it went pretty well. We found that 18 mo was the worst for the kids. We tried taking a 18mo as a lap child once. I would not recommend it.

If you are looking for something to make kids sleep on a plane or otherwise, I would recommend melatonin. it came recommended from a ped sleep specialist that we have worked with.

Whatever you end up doing, try it out some night before yu get on the plane to see how the kid will react.

**Goothrey** · 01-07-2013, 04:30 PM

Kids under a certain age shouldn't be allowed out in public. 19 months falls in that range.

I swear, every flight there is a kid in my vicinity having the worst day of his/her life.

**WooClone15** · 01-07-2013, 05:29 PM

Originally Posted by JWIL4CY

Just do your best to keep them happy and then don't sweat it. I would rather listen to a crying child than an obnoxious adult any day.

This. If I'm flying and a baby's crying as long as the parent seems to be doing their best it doesn't really bother me. It's a bit annoying, but I feel worse for the parent.

**Sparkplug** · 01-07-2013, 05:40 PM

See if you can the first row. It may cost you extra but that extra room is worth it. We were lucky that the attendant was homesick for her kids and did a lot of things to help out. Warning - do not overfill a bottle with anything that is carbonated. Our son learned that if you shook it a little it would spray 7-up everywhere.

**CycloneErik** · 01-07-2013, 05:44 PM

Just sit down and have a rational discussion with the child. He will understand and happily comply, living as the example for every other child who travels on an airplane.

**cloneluke80** · 01-07-2013, 06:15 PM

I took a 1 year old kid to hawaii once. To this day it was the worst 9 hours of my life... completely brutal... my advice, get your parents to babysit for the week and go without the child...

**cloneluke80** · 01-07-2013, 06:18 PM

Originally Posted by cloneluke80

I took a 1 year old kid to hawaii once. To this day it was the worst 9 hours of my life... completely brutal... my advice, get your parents to babysit for the week and go without the child...

Oh and if you do go through with it and get strangers complaining, nip it in the bud, tell them to mind their own business... I once almost got a in a fist fight with a guy because he told me to control my kid on a plane.. like I can magically make him stop crying...

**Cyclones_R_GR8** · 01-08-2013, 07:51 AM

I have flown many many times and can't ever remember a flight where a baby was crying for more than a short period of time. One of the last times I flew I was sitting with a young couple and their child who was about one. She behaved very well. The couple apologized to me because the child spent so much time watching me. I told them there was no need to apologize and that they were raising a very well behaved child.

Now if we could do something about all the adult children that fly and complain about every single thing. I had a guy behind me in the last row that complained the whole flight starting with the fact that he had to pay full fare and his seat didn't recline because of the rear bulkhead. After the flight was over he cornered the pilot to continue his rant.

**packattack425** · 01-08-2013, 08:00 AM

Take your kids to some other crappy beach and tell them it was hawaii. Throw on a t-shirt with palm trees on it and snap a few pictures. Kids are dumb.

**Ames** · 01-08-2013, 08:57 AM

Don't do it. A year ago we did the same trip with several other couples. One of them brought 1 year old and Grandma to babysit. They said they wouldn't ever do it again.

**FarminCy** · 01-08-2013, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by cyhawkdmb

Now you got me nervous.. Im taking a 5.5 year old and a 3.5 year old to Orlando the first of Feburary.. The 5.5 has been on a couple flights, but it has been a couple years. We havnt flown with the 3.5 year old... We should be able to keep them busy between 2 Ipads, a Iphone and a Portable DVD player... Im hoping to get one of the Ipads but probably wont.

You should be just fine. Our two oldest are 6.5 and 3.5 and they have flown to Tampa multiple times. Its a pretty easy flight to Florida (assuming direct through allegiant or similar) and if you have Ipads and DVD's you will be just fine. The flight to Tampa is just under 3 hours and our kids spent the first 1.5 hours watching a movie on the food tray like others have stated. The rest of the flight the older one played the IPad and the younger one colored. It was a really easy trip and not one bit of whining. Generally the attendants will be great to the kids and as long as you keep them focused on something other than just sitting in a plane you should be OK.