When you need quiet, lightweight entertainment

When my daughter Eleanor was seven months old, we took our first international trip as a family of three. Our family thought we were crazy for attempting a 15 day European adventure with an infant. In reality, it was one of the best decisions we ever made. We learned so much. We experienced so much. Most importantly, we realized that we didn’t have to wait until our kids were grown-up to be able to start seeing the world.

If nothing else, I hope I can give you reassurance; you will never regret taking the trip. Even if it all doesn’t go to plan (and it often won’t), it’s still worth it. You’ll still be glad you did it. Every. Single. Time.

What I’ve noticed is that most people seem to focus on how hard that long-distance flight will be with a child in tow. The thing people don’t really consider is that even flight time can be quality time. You’re not driving or in charge of a map. No one has to worry about air navigation. That’s the pilot’s job. So, you’re left with the opportunity to play, talk, and color with your seatmate.

How would you spend time with your child at home? It’s not that different on an airplane. Mainly it’s the space limitations that are your biggest hurtle. No, you can’t play tag or soccer onboard an aircraft. But everything else is basically the same. And if you pack correctly, the flight won’t be hard. With the right things on hand it will be doable at the very least, but more than likely you’ll soon realize that the effort to bring them with you is worth it every time.

Don’t get me wrong…it will be a different experience from when you traveled with your spouse or adult friends. No, you won’t be able to put on headphones and zone out with back-to-back movies. But bringing the littles along can make any trip so much more memorable, and for us, this vastly outweighed any inconveniences or small frustrations we faced.

More than anything, the difference between a memorable family vacation and a miserable, effortful trip comes down to expectations. Does your kid hate to read chapter books by themselves at home? Then don’t expect that they will spend two hours reading a chapter book on the plane. Remember: you’re not going to another planet. Your kid will still be the same kid they are at home. So what you know to expect from them at home when you go out to dinner, to the store, to a friends house… that should basically be what you should expect from them when you travel.

As I mentioned, my daughter was 7 months old when Adam and I decided to take a trip to Europe. She was still nursing and also taking bottles, which made feeding her effortless. As many babies do, she would get sleepy from nursing so it was ideal to nurse her during take-offs. It would keep her ears from popping and also have her dozing off. This made the first stretch of airtime a breeze. She was not walking yet, which meant she was happy to walk around in the Ergo carrier, which my husband and I took turns wearing. We also took a specific type of stroller (more on this in my Travel Strollers post) and a few strategic items (like a cloth highchair adaptor so that she could sit at the table with us at the cafes).

After that first trip to Europe, we continued to take her and later, my son, on all of our adventures. We’ve experienced family travel at each phase and stage of parenting. We’ve traveled with the kids as infants, babies, toddlers, preschoolers, and at elementary age. We’ve traveled with and without car seats and strollers and have a lot to share on that subject alone. For now, let’s talk about the activities used for entertainment during the flight and how we pack them.

The key to packing entertainment for a flight is size and weight. (Also noise!) You want a variety of small, lightweight activities that can be reused throughout your whole trip, not just on the flight. There’s definitely a strategy to choosing these items because you want to maximize their purpose. You will be pulling these things out again when they are bored in the stroller, when you’re at a restaurant, on bus rides, and also when you’re hanging out at the hotel.

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