Boarding plane with 4 year old

[Lisbon]

We just made it a "happy " event , showing them the plane before we got on, telling them where the pilot sits when getting on the plane, etc etc
Rob

[Mel49]

Would he respond to a little bit of "bribery" /distraction if you have a bag of surprises, one for sitting in the seat, one for putting the belt on and keeping on etc. Just little things to take his mind off anything bothering him like small cuddly, sticker books, blind packs of lego mini-figures or similar.

My kids always loved taking one of their soft toys on the plane and in fact my DD at that age used to talk the toy through what we had told her about sitting down with seat belt, staying seated when special lights on, having their own special meal. They also always had their own small backpack and latterly a pull a long bag with space for their cuddly.

Hope all goes to plan and to be honest can never recollect seeing any little one being taken kicking and screaming onto a plane or being removed as wouldn't go on or sit down.

[nsal0101]

Originally Posted by Mel49

Would he respond to a little bit of "bribery" /distraction if you have a bag of surprises, one for sitting in the seat, one for putting the belt on and keeping on etc. Just little things to take his mind off anything bothering him like small cuddly, sticker books, blind packs of lego mini-figures or similar.

My kids always loved taking one of their soft toys on the plane and in fact my DD at that age used to talk the toy through what we had told her about sitting down with seat belt, staying seated when special lights on, having their own special meal. They also always had their own small backpack and latterly a pull a long bag with space for their cuddly.

Hope all goes to plan and to be honest can never recollect seeing any little one being taken kicking and screaming onto a plane or being removed as wouldn't go on or sit down.

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Thanks Mel. I think the best route I can take is the Kinder egg bribery so hopefully that will work. He also broke his VA model plane so I told him I would buy another on the flight so I hope he's starting to understand..

[Eeyore rocks]

I would preorder the model plane for the flight...as they never had any at the duty free...only BA planes...though they have changed terminals.

[toots82]

Just remember don't leave any stray Kinder Eggs in your bags when you get to the other end!

[Guest]

My son had some similar issues at that age.

Do you have an aircraft museum nearby?

We "practiced" flying at the RAF Museum (free!), IWM Duxford and Le Bourget.

By the time the big day rolled around, DS was so excited to be getting on a plane that actually WENT somewhere...he practically RAN on board.


Good luck!

[nsal0101]

Originally Posted by Eeyore rocks

I would preorder the model plane for the flight...as they never had any at the duty free...only BA planes...though they have changed terminals.

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Will Do, there are a few things im going to pre-order so ill make sure I do it

Originally Posted by toots82

Just remember don't leave any stray Kinder Eggs in your bags when you get to the other end!

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lol. I won't

Originally Posted by GopherLass

My son had some similar issues at that age.

Do you have an aircraft museum nearby?

We "practiced" flying at the RAF Museum (free!), IWM Duxford and Le Bourget.

By the time the big day rolled around, DS was so excited to be getting on a plane that actually WENT somewhere...he practically RAN on board.


Good luck!

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I so wish I did something like this a few months back. Im not going to get the time now unfortunately.
Thanks to everyone so far. Your comments are helping!

[Picklepuppy]

Ours have been flying since they were 3 months old so it’s second nature to them. But when they were about 2ish we made them ‘responsible’ they had to show their passports, their tickets, help get mummy put their bags in the scanners, go through the scanner etc. We’ve found it really helps with the journey because they think they are a big boy/girl. They don’t look after their passport but as far as they are concerned they do what mummy is doing. We find that demystifying the journey and not getting stressed out about it is the best way for ours to cope with the planes and airports. We have a rule in our family once the key comes out the front door, we are on holiday so holiday mindset kicks in and everyone is much more chilled

[lady hiss]

When our daughter was young we made a pretend passport for a soft toy which she was responsible for. She sweetly told him he had no need to worry as it was a big adventure when we boarded so she forget any nerves she had and it worked a treat. It was also funny when she showed the immigration man the tests passport with his picture in it he played along wonderfully.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by GopherLass

My son had some similar issues at that age.

Do you have an aircraft museum nearby?

We "practiced" flying at the RAF Museum (free!), IWM Duxford and Le Bourget.

By the time the big day rolled around, DS was so excited to be getting on a plane that actually WENT somewhere...he practically RAN on board.


Good luck!

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I was going to suggest something like this too 👍🏻