I apologise in advance if you are planning to fly from Stansted to Perpignan in the next few weeks. You may be looking forward to a peaceful trip to take in the majestic castle, hike in the Pyrenees or catch some relaxing time on the beach, but your break may not get off to the easiest of starts. We are flying there as a family soon so I am preparing myself for the worst, and you should too if you happen to be on the same plane.
It’s not that I worry Elsa will misbehave on the flight, but rather that I know the measures we have in place for avoiding a toddler tantrum might actually be worse than having to listen to a weeping 22-month-old for the two-hour duration of the journey.
The iPad is already fully loaded with both Sing and Sign DVDs that we own. If you are unaware of the franchise, Sasha Felix, the daughter of one of the Beverley Sisters, has simultaneously captured the hearts of youngsters and incurred the wrath of parents by creating a number of ludicrously catchy songs that fit with rudimentary sign language in order to help kids communicate and develop language. It really works, which is amazing, but the songs…OH! THE SONGS! YOU CAN’T GET THEM OUT OF YOUR HEAD. EVER.
However, these DVDs are the only things that stop our daughter in her tracks, that distract her from everything else going on in the room…actually, in the entire world. It’s the very definition of being stuck between a rock and a hard place. It will stop her chuntering, but you could be exposed to my daughter’s, admittedly cute, renditions of the full Sing and Sign back catalogue whilst being stuck inside a metal tube any day soon.
Whilst we still don’t have the new-style family-friendly plane designs, we’ll have to make do with the options we have in our arsenal, but are there any good tips for flying with a toddler for the first time you can share with the class? Not just for me, but a host of other reasonably new parents who are quaking at the thought of introducing their cherubs to the world of Ryanair in the near future? Leave your distraction techniques and other tricks in the comments.
To find out how we got on, click to read the results!
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