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Coping with a child's tantrum on a plane

post #1 of 6
1/26/07 at 11:21am
Thread Starter 
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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20...h_air_tantrums

As a veteran of many bad tantrums, restraint is usually a good way to control if not entirely calm a tantrum. It also prevents them from hurting themselves or anyone else.
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post #2 of 6
1/26/07 at 11:37am
I would say you should just keep them occupied. Lots of treats and different things to do and PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE.
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post #3 of 6
1/26/07 at 11:42am
As parents we all know that there isn't always a way to calm a tantrum and sometimes you have to let it ride out.
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post #4 of 6
1/26/07 at 12:05pm
Now if the tantrum is out of fear, and there is no safe way for me to hold him, then I would buckle him up and sit close leaning in to whisper stories in his ear and talk gentley till he calmed down.
On the other hand...if it were just a temper tantrum....bad mommy that I am I would pick the child up.....plop their screaming butt in the seat, buckle them up and tell them if they shuuushhh they can have the lollipop so the plane doesn't hurt their ears....if not they can scream and I will eat the lollipop. My three year old can "refuse" all he wants but in the end he is 3 and I am the mommy and I don't compromise on safety. I would make sure they knew what was happening and where we were going and what the ride would be like before getting on the plane....I would make it as exciting as possible....and because of pressure I would have a huge bag of tootsie roll pops for the ride(that the kids would know about), but if it's a tantrum because they just don't want to sit in a seat and be still then TOUGH! They will only scream for so long(espescially when they realize I am munching that lollipop I threatened to eat....lol) and if other passengers can't understand that they are three and this is new to them, then they would just have to get over it.
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post #5 of 6
1/26/07 at 5:27pm
Thread Starter 
Well said Bridget. It might take me more than 15 minutes to wrestle her little butt into the seat though. I really liked the suggestion of bringing your home car seat.
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post #6 of 6
1/26/07 at 8:08pm
If the parent was trying to get the child into the seat actively, which it seems the parents we're referring to were more interested in trying to talk to the screaming child (once they've hit screaming stage, I seriously doubt that any amount of reasoning is going to work), then more time might make sense.

The home car seat idea is good - as long as the child is still in a 5-point harness. Otherwise, they won't let you use it on the plane.
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