Air Travel with a Special Child

How do you feel about children’s tantrums? And to children’s tantrums in a public place? What about child hysteria on the plane? Do you regret that you do not have a parachute? I, when I first flew with Alice on the plane, was very sorry. It’s good that I didn’t know what was ahead, otherwise I would never risk it.

To begin with, Alice was then 3.5 years old. All this wonderful time, she pleased me with the absence of tantrums, she didn’t lie on the floor in the store, she behaved beautifully in children’s rooms, did not offend and was not interested in other children, and she never even cried if, suddenly, toys were taken from her. I could not imagine that the biggest tantrum that I could imagine was waiting for me. Vaguely I guessed that everything might not go as well as we would like. We had to fly from Surgut to Anapa with a transfer in Moscow. I stocked up on my favorite food, my favorite toys, goodies, took in the air in my chest and raced! On the way to the airport, Alice fell asleep, sweetly slept through the registration, inspection, waiting in the drive and woke up just at the moment when we were heading into a plane in a friendly crowd. I woke up, stretched, looked around and realized that she didn’t like all this and that she didn’t want to fly. I understand her, you sleep for yourself, you sleep and suddenly wake up in a small room with a bunch of people, they’re carrying you somewhere, but you don’t want to go there at all.

Another digression. Despite the positive attitude towards the flight, we began to prepare in advance. To begin with, we started to ride on buses. But what, the room is small, the rows of seats, a lot of people, why don’t you train in front of the plane? Alice transferred the bus perfectly! She really liked it, even if we drove at rush hour. Then we examined pictures of airplanes, I told her (at that time she did not understand anything, but I continued to tell). Thus, by day X, I thought we were as ready as possible.

I was wrong. I was deeply mistaken. On the plane, Alice did not like the word at all. But this could be what we would have overcome if not for seat belts. It turned out that Alice does not like them even more than airplanes. Although, in the car she always sat in an armchair, she was always fastened in and did not show any displeasure with this fact. So, the belt completely finished her, and she fell into hysteria. We had nowhere to go, the plane was confidently gaining altitude, the passengers were sadly preparing for the entire flight to “enjoy” the oror of another child, and I tried to calm Alice. Everything went into play: I tried to disguise the belt so that she would not see it, tried to distract her with various activities, turn on cartoons – everything was useless. Most likely she added nervousness and an unpleasant sensation during take-off, because as soon as we gained altitude she slowly calmed down. We were lucky that the plane was half empty and all three seats were ours. When we were allowed to unfasten our belts, Alice calmed down completely and looked like a cute little girl. Passengers exhaled, I crossed myself. We survived the landing much easier, but the belt made her cry again. I entered wet Domodedovo, and Alice was pleased, because she even took her own and immediately after climbing Alisa fell asleep safely and even overslept the landing. From the plane I carried her in my arms. Our first flight was behind us, and ahead of us was our dad and a car trip to the Crimea.

Apparently, I’m a stupid person, because the first experience taught me nothing and six months later Alisa and I flew for the New Year holidays in AnapaJ

I will not bore you with the details, I can only say that in Surgut it’s already on the stairs (I don’t know what the name of the device that you use to get on the plane is called), they stopped us right at the entrance to the plane and asked how we were going to fly. Honestly, I wasn’t ready for this, I was scared that they wouldn’t let us into the plane now, which is why she said with a stony expression and firm confidence that as soon as we take off, she would calm down. For some reason they believed me and let me into the plane. It turned out that I had not lied, and after climbing, our flight went quite calmly.

On the way back, when we flew from Anapa to Surgut, I knew human kindness and sacredly believed in people. According to tradition, on the way to the airport, Alice fell asleep and woke up already at the airport. She refused to fly away, she tried to get in a taxi and drive backJ As a result, six airport employees entertained my daughter while she expressed her displeasure, removing and throwing boots in different directions. Passengers who stood at the check-in helped to carry the suitcase, and the girl who checked in came up to me, took the documents and gave the boarding pass. All this took no more than 10 minutes. We were even offered to go to the landing ahead of time, while no one was there, but knowing my daughter I refused. We walked around the airport, threw pebbles into puddles, tuned in for the flight, and entered the plane like decent people.

The fourth time (and you remember that it’s hard for me to reach) we flew again to Anapa and again with a transfer. This time she cried and pulled out only on the plane, but she did it very thoroughly. The stewardess helped me feed Alice a motherwort tablet, because there were no other ways. However, after 30 minutes she calmed down and we flew quite peacefully. And they flew back almost perfectly, even to tell is not interesting.

What struck me was the reaction of the people. We have never been remarked, no one has ever been indignant at the hysterical child and has not commented on the incorrect education of the mother. Help has helped us more than once, they showed words of support, someone joked, but everyone was very friendly. Maybe someone sent curses on my head, but he did it quietly and imperceptibly, for which my big thanks to him

Altogether, we made five air travels with Alice, so far I am not attracted by anything else. It turned out that Alice is very fond of road trips and the opportunity to go on vacation by car appeared, so in the near future I won’t go to air travel. Now I imagine a similar situation with fear, and I remember my past travels with a smile. Why am I sharing with you? So that you know that it’s not alone, that even with the most thorough preparation, everything can go wrong, that even the worst situations, in your opinion, tend to end and that there are many people around us who are ready to help in difficult times. Good luck with your adventures !!!