Coping With Child's Tantrum on Plane

Coping with a child's tantrum on a plane By BETH J. HARPAZ, AP Travel
Editor
48 minutes ago



How do you avoid becoming the family that got kicked off an airplane
after their crying 3-year-old refused to take her seat?

Experts say rewarding kids for cooperation, distracting them with
simple games and telling them in advance what's going to happen can
help. But at the end of the day, you may just have to take control,
restrain the child, and comply with the rules.

The family, Julie and Gerry Kulesza and their daughter Elly, was headed
home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, Fla., when they were told
they had to leave the plane because Elly wouldn't get in her seat.

FAA rules require children age 2 and older to have their own seats with
buckled seat belts before takeoff. The airline, Air Tran, said the
flight had already been delayed 15 minutes when the family was told to
disembark. Air Tran reimbursed the family the cost of their tickets and
offered them three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies as
compensation.

Here are four tips for getting children to behave on airplanes.

_Bring the child's car seat along. The Federal Aviation Administration
says children are safest on planes when strapped into their car seats,
and "young kids are often more comfortable in a familiar seat," said
Eileen Ogintz, whose columns appear online at
http://www.takingthekids.com. Seeing their own car seat on the plane
may also make them more willing to climb in and buckle up, just like
they do in the family car.

_Bring small items you can use as entertainment, distraction and
rewards.

"We'll stop in the magazine store and get one of those silly little
books where the kids get a magic pen," said Pauline Frommer, the travel
guidebook writer and daughter of travel guru Arthur Frommer. In
addition, she buys gum as a special treat for her daughters to have in
flight, and brings pipe cleaners along to play with.

Holly Hughes, author of "500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow
Up," suggests reading a story or even strapping a doll in the seat belt
first. "Everyone around you is anxious and kids are likely to pick up
on that anxiety," she said. "Distraction is a big thing."

Michele Perry, director of communications for TripAdvisor and mother of
a 3-year-old, says if toys don't work, "I have a Plan B, which I'm not
proud of but it works: A lollipop."

_If the child is old enough to understand, explain in advance what's
going to happen and stress the importance of following the rules.
"Explain that the pilot and flight attendants need their help when
preparing for take off," Ogintz said.

"The whole idea is the preparation before. Explain what's going to
happen and make it something to look forward to," said Nancy Shankman.
Her grown son, Peter Shankman, began traveling with his family at a
very young age; today he runs AirTroductions.com, a Web site that
allows people to choose their seat mates before boarding.

_Finally, if rewards, explanations and distraction don't work, you may
have to calmly say, "These are the rules, you have no choice," and
restrain the child.

"I do feel that preparation for any kind of adventure is important,"
said Nancy Shankman, "but if that didn't work, I would have just
strapped the kid in the seat."

Peter Shankman said that the opinion of about half of the moms weighing
in on the subject on the AirTroductions Web site was, "'We would have
had that kid down.' They blamed the parents." The other half felt badly
for the parents, he said.

"A lot of this comes down to parenting," Perry said. At the end of the
day, "I know I can get my daughter buckled in that seat."

Steve Loucks, a spokesman for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the travel
agency, said parents need to realize that, "in the post-9/11 world,
there's no room for error on airplanes. Unruly passengers, regardless
of who they are, whether it's an elderly person or a young child, can
be grounds for turning the plane around and letting them off. ... If
ever there were a place where you need to make sure your children were
behaving, this is the place."

___

On the Net:

FAA: Children and car seats on airplanes,
http://www.faa.gov/passengers/fly_children/crs/

Taking the Kids: http://www.takingthekids.com

AirTroductions: http://www.airtroductions.com

TripAdvisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com



Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The
information contained in the AP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written
authority of The Associated Press.


Copyright © 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Questions or Comments
Privacy Policy -Terms of Service - Copyright/IP Policy - Ad Feedback

On Jan 25, 2:47 pm, "zorba" wrote:
How do you avoid becoming the family that got kicked off an airplane
after their crying 3-year-old refused to take her seat?

Give them some drugs. But not xanax like that flight attendant, just
some children's benadryl.

I wonder about the advice to bring a kid's car seat... How could you possibly secure one on a plane
with only a hip belt? My car seat's instruction manual specifically mentions that it should never be
used as a 'normal' seat, i.e. not secured with a 3 point belt in a car.

Cheers,
Chanchao

In article ,
lid wrote:

I wonder about the advice to bring a kid's car seat... How could you
possibly secure one on a plane
with only a hip belt? My car seat's instruction manual specifically mentions
that it should never be
used as a 'normal' seat, i.e. not secured with a 3 point belt in a car.

There are car seats that are designed for air travel. Any conscientious
parent who is planning to travel by air should know what the options are
and prepare appropriately if their kid needs a car seat.

The parents of that kid who wouldn't sit down on that flight out to be
ashamed of themselves.

Shawn Hirn wrote:
The parents of that kid who wouldn't sit down on that flight out to be
ashamed of themselves.

Have not followed this thread specifically. BUT... consider cases where
the kid had never flown but had previously been well behaved in situations
the parents would consider similar. But all of a sudden, once in the plane,
the kid exhibits totally new behaviour to the parents who may not know
exactly how to handle it.

As a nearby passenger, you think it is easy to control the kid: handcuff
him to the seat and duct tape his mouth. But for the parent, they need to
find a proper way to get the kid to behave and this is often not obvious if
the kid doesn't respond to verbal commands from parents. And remember that
parents can't start to shout to the kid or worse, hit him , in front or all
those other passengers.

As a nearby passenger, you think it is easy to control the kid: handcuff him
to the seat and duct tape his mouth.

NO! BEST way is for parents to take RETROACTIVE birth control pills before
boarding !!!

007
--
******************

[Remove "NOSP" from my e-mail address]

Nobody writes:

Have not followed this thread specifically. BUT... consider cases where
the kid had never flown but had previously been well behaved in situations
the parents would consider similar. But all of a sudden, once in the plane,
the kid exhibits totally new behaviour to the parents who may not know
exactly how to handle it.

That is so rare that it can be disregarded. Nothing about an aircraft
causes a person's fundamental personality to change.

As a nearby passenger, you think it is easy to control the kid: handcuff
him to the seat and duct tape his mouth. But for the parent, they need to
find a proper way to get the kid to behave and this is often not obvious if
the kid doesn't respond to verbal commands from parents.

They've had years to do that. The child's first time on an aircraft
is not the time to start.

And remember that
parents can't start to shout to the kid or worse, hit him , in front or all
those other passengers.

Since neither technique is likely to work, that doesn't matter.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

On 25 Jan 2007 14:47:22 -0800, "zorba" wrote:


Here are four tips for getting children to behave on airplanes.


_Bring the child's car seat along. The Federal Aviation Administration
says children are safest on planes when strapped into their car seats,
and "young kids are often more comfortable in a familiar seat," said
Eileen Ogintz,

Hm. Does the FAA have some sort of statistics on children who
survived airliner crashes because they were sitting in their own
car seat? In fact, are there any children at all who have
survived airliner crashes while sitting in their own car seats?

whose columns appear online at
http://www.takingthekids.com. Seeing their own car seat on the plane
may also make them more willing to climb in and buckle up, just like
they do in the family car.

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Hatunen writes:

There are very few children who haven't thrown a tantrum at some
time in their early lives.

I must be very lucky, because I've encountered quite a few.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

On Fri, 26 Jan 2007 21:59:00 +0100, Mxsmanic
wrote:

Hatunen writes:

There are very few children who haven't thrown a tantrum at some
time in their early lives.

I must be very lucky, because I've encountered quite a few.

You've been watching them all their lives? What are you? A
pedophile?

--
************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *