Giving your young child Haribo while sat on the tarmac is a sure-fire way to start your flight off badly. Confused? Well, you might want to trust the word of this parent, who has shared a handful of mistakes that others really don’t want to be making when flying with kids, based on her own (sometimes grizzly) experiences.
Home educator and mum-of-three Hannah Megan (@hannahhomeeducates) took to TikTok to share a handful of tips for nervous parents flying with kids for the first time.
The mum explained she’s flown more than 30 times with her children, including a big trip around Asia when they were six, five and two years old – and has made “every single mistake” in the book when it comes to flying with kids.
Her biggest no-no is boarding the plane first, when families and people with babies are called to do so. The reason being that it means you end up sat on the plane for longer, with restless little ones.
“I have no idea why they do this,” she said. “Keep your kids off the plane for as long as is humanly possible – and let them run around and get all that energy out.
“There is no reason for you to be sitting on that plane for a single second longer than you absolutely have to.”
Her second tip is to not rely on in-flight entertainment to keep kids occupied for the duration of the trip.
“Do not assume that the TV is going to be working,” she said, recalling how she once got a long-haul flight to Singapore with her kids and the TVs on the seats weren’t working.
She didn’t have her children’s iPads with her, either. It was a low point. “I did not have sufficient entertainment,” said the mum. “So take entertainment.”
She recommends travel activity books – colouring and sticker books can also work well.
“My next tip is one I really learned the hard way,” she continued.
The parent revealed she’d given her then 16-month-old a small bag of Haribo when they’d boarded their flight. “I thought it was going to be a nice treat because we were going on holiday on the airplane,” she said.
“I gave her the Haribo while everyone was getting seated and then basically it got delayed so we were stuck on the tarmac for an hour and she had explosive stomach issues – and I was wearing white linen trousers.
“So she’s sitting on my lap and I now have to sit for a four-hour flight to Turkey with a massive, orange, disgustingly stinky stain on my lap because I haven’t packed a change of clothes for me, only my kid.”
The point, she added, is to avoid giving kids high-sugar foods the day before a flight, and the day of a flight. And also, it might be worth packing a change of clothes for yourself, just in case.
Discussing plane snacks, the mum-of-three said that while she loves sugar and her kids love sugar, sugary treats probably aren’t the best shout for flights. Instead, opt for snacks that take a while to eat.
Another key tip is to ensure you have watertight health and travel insurance. “If you cannot afford travel insurance then you cannot afford to travel,” she said.
“My daughter had a very severe brain injury while we were in Indonesia and travel insurance didn’t do what it should have done, but it did do a lot more than nothing – and the repatriation fees and all of that stuff, it adds up to millions of pounds sometimes. So, you absolutely need appropriate travel insurance for your child.”
Lastly, she said if you’re a parent who doesn’t like screens, throw that idea in the bin until after your flight. Her advice is to get your kids iPads or tablets and good headphones, “and let them have it for the entire flight – who cares?”.
You don’t have to tell us twice.