[ariel]

I'm taking my 3 yr old to SF in 2 wks. As this is his very first trip, I'm extremely nervous & worried about his behaviour on the plane esp it's a such long flight. Some friends recommended us to take a portable dvd player. Any other tips and advice from anyone? Thanks.

[Jen Spain]

Just a couple of tips that we use that seem to work quite well:
- always have plenty of food and drink, don't rely on food on the airline as its never enough / at the right times. Also, this is the one time that we take all of ally's fave foods even though they may not always be healthy!
- take a new book and / or toy that he/she hasn't seen before.
- a sticker book also keeps them occupied for a reasonable length of time.

Hope that helps, have a great trip.
One additional thing to remember - the trip will always end at some stage!

[a mom]

Jen Spain gave some really good ones.
A few more ideas:
Take a couple of changes of clothes onboard for you and him. If my son doesn't throw up on me, he spills cokes and tuna fish on me.

We also tell him "the captain is coming!" whenever we can't get him to do something like wear seatbelt, stop kicking seat in front, etc. Sure enough, a uniformed flight attendant is usually passing by, making it real and he all too quickly obliges. He has no idea what the captain will do, but the uniform is enough to impress!

Walk him up and down the aisles and take him to the service galley where he can charm cheese n crackers, fruit, etc from the flight attendants. On one long haul flight my son ate better than he had in weeks for the sheer novelty of getting food from behind the curtain.

san fran in spring! it'll be great.

[ariel]

thank you so much for all the wonderful suggestions. I'll certainly take them all on broad.

I've many lists in front of me now ... Ah stressful! But somehow we really want to give it a try. It's about time. Many friends take their babies all over the world with them and I've heard lots of scary stories. Maybe that's why I'm so nervous.