Yes, it is true. The little traveling toddler did get the family kicked off of the plane. The media went crazy on this one and there are surveys popping up all over about if children should be banned from flights.
If you have not read the story, or been told about it, basically a 3 year old little girl refused to sit in her seat and buckle up before take off. The airline crew was not able to enforce the FAA’s requirement that all passengers over the age of 2 be restrained before take off. The child’s parents were not able to control her. The airline crew then made an operational decision to remove the family from the flight.
You can read the media story here.
My email has been flooded with readers asking how I feel about this. Since I was not there and do not know all the details, I am unable to comment on this exact situation. However, I do know that children are the responsibility of the adults who are caring for them. And preparing these kids for the flight experience is a necessity when taking them into the overstimulating, tense, busy world of aviation travel.
I can speak from personal experience that when dealing with a toddler, (my son is 2 1/2 years old), if I just tell him to do something when we are in a new situation, without a calm explanation and prior preparation, he will say no. Is this out of spite? No – he has just discovered in life that he has a mind and is not a puppet. And the more stressed I become, the more he digs in his heels.
However, if I prepare him ahead of time, what a difference!
For example, as I typed this, the carpet cleaner arrived. Having lost track of time, I was not prepared for this appointment. I also had failed to prepare my son for this new experience of having our carpets cleaned.
I also was on the phone at the same time that I was typing. So I was on the phone, answering the door, trying to quickly pick up the toys on the floor, thinking of how I was going to get a newsletter finished.
My son immediately picked up on my tension. He also reacted strongly to having a stranger in our home, spraying stuff on
our carpet. And guess what? He did not like it!
So the situation from the start went from bad to worse. He then ran through the living room to get closer to me and
fell on the tile floor in our kitchen (having wet feet from the newly sprayed carpet).
Now I had a screaming child, a phone call in progress, a newsletter to finish, and a carpet cleaner who viewed my otherwise well behaved child as a screaming, out of control nuisance.
However, had I prepared my son for this change of events, I can assure you that he would have been fascinated by the
huge hoses running through our home and the large vacuum that makes so much noise.
Now is a great time to defend children and prepare parents.
How can we expect children to behave when they are thrown into strange situations (often filled with tension for adults as
well), and sit them in new, crowded environments and unusual circumstances without prepping them? Especially when we just tell them to sit down and buckle up when many times they do not even understand why or what is happening.
Many times preparation for a trip involves making sure the bags are packed and the focus becomes on the destination. However, if parents skip this important step of flight preparation – as demonstrated by this latest story, there is a possibility that the flight will never take place! And the airlines do not take the time to educate parents about this important aspect of flying with kids. There are excellent preparation tools to help with this process.
My book Jet With Kids: Taking the Fear Out of Flying…WITH YOUR KIDS! contains everything parents or grandparents need to know about flying with kids; from what to pack in their carry-on to what documentation is required, this is the ultimate time and energy saving resource. The book is written from a traveling mom’s perspective but is a one of a kind because it includes detailed, helpful tips from airline industry experts like veteran flights attendants and gate agents.
Praised by airline professionals, pediatricians, traveling parents and even business travelers, Jet With Kids is required reading which will provide parents with all that they need before taking children up to 37,000 feet. AND it is written in an easy to read format, set up to save parents and grandparents time and energy.
An excellent tool for preparing children for flight is the “Shae by Air DVD toolkit” . This developmentally appropriate toolkit is designed for toddlers, to prepare them for the new and sometimes strange sights, sounds, and unfamiliar environments of the airport and the airplane which adults may take for granted.
You can find both of these items and more tools as well as travel products designed for family travel at:
www.JetWithKids.com/product_preparation_tools
And one more word on this topic… It is easy to place blame – harder to take responsibility. But until parents do, little traveling toddlers will continue to be a dreaded presence on planes.
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