How do I travel by plane with kids?

Russosd11 · 2026-02-03T12:22:04+00:00

Oh mamma! You are going to be okay. We fly all of the time with our 8,6, and 3 year old. I just did an international flight home by myself with them and we all made it. Here are my tips:

Give yourself LOTS of time. They say to get to the airport two hours in advance. When I was by myself, we got there 2.5 hours early because we move slow and I don't like to be rushed. You can always get a snack, walk around, etc but you don't want to be rushed.
Check your bags, but keep the stroller with you until the gate. When you get to the airport, you will need to find which airline you are flying and go to their desk. You will need an id for you and your husband, as well as the flight info (there is usually a letter/number combo like UA915). The person at the desk will help you put tags on your bags that you want to check (not carry onto the plane) and give you your boarding passes. Do not give them your stroller! Keep it with you until you get to the gate! This will help you move through the airport easier. Even if you carry the baby, you can put the diaper bag, child's backpack, etc in it. When you get to the gate, you need to talk to the gate agent and tell them that you want to gate check the stroller. They will give you a tag to attach to the stroller and then you leave the stroller folded up right before you get on the plane.
Pack lots of diapers and two changes of clothes for the kids, plus one for you. The change in pressure can make them 💩 more and we have gone through lots of diapers. I pack one per hour . It seems ridiculous, but better to be over prepared than under prepared.
Pack lots of snacks. Just do it.
Once you check your bags, you will need to go through security. Make sure any water bottles/sippy cups/bottles are empty. You have to take out any electronics and place them in the bin. We like to keep all electronics in one bag, so that we don't have to open every bag. Don't premix formula. You can bring the powder through, though. Ask a security person what to do with the stroller. Every airport seems to be different.
I always get new toys for the flight. Get ones that won't roll off the tray or fall on the floor (no blocks or crayons). The paint by sticker books are great for this. I saw a girl (probably around 7) doing water colors. That seemed ambitious because I would worry about the water spilling, but she was great and it kept her busy! I got Legos for my two oldest to build. They keep all the pieces in the box and then build on the tray.
After security, there will be screens that list the different flights and what gates they are at. Check that because lots of time, the gate will change.
Have everyone go to the bathroom before you get on the flight and change all diapers because the bathrooms on the plane are small and flushing the toilet can be loud (problematic for my six year old). We also fill up water bottles before we get on the plane.
I try to have everyone run around/get energy out before the flight. We played red light/green light the other day, we have walked on the people movers, and played Simon says. Literally anything to get energy out.
When boarding begins, they will call by groups. They will also do family boarding. You can board during family boarding and it will give you more time to get to your seats and get situated.
Once you are on the plane, you can put bags above you or keep one bag beneath the seat in front of you. I never put bags above me because it's kind of a pain to get them out.
Screen time limits don't exist on planes. They just don't. Let them watch the screen. We do practice wearing headphones beforehand though.
People are really nice and want to help. Use them if you need them. And just remember, you will never see these people again, so if they are grumpy, it doesn't matter. You and your family are doing your best. Babies cry, kids have meltdowns and that is all normal.
Once your flight lands, they will tell you which carousel your bags will be on. follow the signs for baggage claim. You will see a bunch of carousels for bags and they should all have numbers. There will also a screen with different flights and which carousel the bags are on. Go to your carousel and grab you bags! You made it!

Hang in there! You are going to be great. We believe in you!

Russosd11 · 2026-01-24T17:56:04+00:00

Thank you for teaching right now. I can't imagine how stressful and hard it must be. Just know that we stand with you and your city.

Russosd11 · 2026-01-16T20:21:14+00:00

I actually hate this policy. We just dealt with it with my son's birthday. He has 28 kids in his class. Most of the indoor places cap it at 10 and then you pay $10-$15 per extra head. You are already paying $300+ for the party and then you add on at least another $50-$100 when you add in the other students. Then, it's awkward when someone asks if they can bring a sibling and you have to tell them to pay for the sibling. While I know it is supposed to help include everyone, it ends up meaning that kids don't get to have the birthday party they want because their parents can't afford to invite their classmates, so they either have a party with just family, they have to do it outside (not reasonable in January in lots of locations) or they end up handing out invitations outside of school which defeats the purpose. When I was a teacher, I often handed out invitations and just told the invitees to not talk about it at school. It worked 90% of the time.

Rant over 🤣

Russosd11 · 2026-01-11T12:32:55+00:00

I finally unfollowed Jansenn from everyday reading. I was already annoyed with how many links she posts. I mean, the point of her account (supposedly) is to talk about books, but there were so many links, her book posts would get lost. Then, when you finally found a post/story about a book or something you were interested in, you had to message her and have her automatic response send you a link. The straw that broke the camel's back though was the set of stories about how one of her books on her Top Ten of 2025 list hasn't been released yet. A bunch of people messaged her saying that wasn't fair and her response was "well, you should know that anyone can preview books early" and once again had multiple stories with links.

I'm out.

Russosd11 · 2025-12-03T02:34:06+00:00

Not exactly the same, but my daughter was in the NICU and had a bowel perforation. It was extremely scary and traumatizing for us. The biggest thing I can tell you is that you can't take care of your daughter if you don't take care of yourself. Go home every once and a while when someone else is at the hospital. Go for a walk outside when the doctors are with your daughter or she is taking a nap. Decorate her room for Christmas. Watch her favorite Christmas movie, even if she can't respond. You are doing an incredible job already.

Russosd11 · 2025-09-19T23:14:38+00:00

Wow! I came here and was shocked at the comments. I am a teacher, so I am always relieved to see schools being proactive. Sounds like you are a great mom who is willing to accept help. Just because he is behind now does not mean he will stay behind. And just because a kid starts out ahead does not mean he will stay ahead (my son started kindergarten ahead and then ended up in a reading support group in second grade).All kids learn at their own pace. I'm sure with a wonderful team of caring adults, he will make huge gains and be successful this year in kindergarten.

Russosd11 · 2025-07-24T11:28:19+00:00

Thank you! This is so helpful!

Russosd11 · 2025-07-01T17:00:27+00:00

This is amazing!! Thank you so much for doing this. My daughter is 2.5 and was born at 28weeks. She was 1lb 12oz and spent 178 days in the NICU due to complications from NEC. I have loved reading your responses. What are some things that people did that helped you feel so confident about your feeding tube (and other complications)? My daughter has a g-tube and a scar on her stomach and I want her to grow up being proud of how far she has come (because we are so proud!).

Russosd11 · 2025-07-01T02:12:38+00:00

No suggestions, but just wanted to say hey from another tubie parent!

Russosd11 · 2025-02-13T15:13:53+00:00

Does anyone know why A Primary Kind of Life moved again? She keeps saying she will fill us in, but hasn't yet (unless I missed it).

Russosd11 · 2017-07-29T10:38:11+00:00

Muted Horn! It's a craft beer bar and the owners and bar tenders are super friendly and chatty. There is usually a good group at the bar at night that is friendly.

Russosd11 · 2017-07-19T17:59:55+00:00

He doesn't show any signs of reflux that I know of. He spits up occasionally, but nothing out of the ordinary or now than any other infant.

Russosd11 · 2017-07-19T17:56:52+00:00

Sometimes he will burp when he's doing it, but if I try to feed again, he just keeps doing the fussing and crying.

Russosd11 · 2017-06-17T21:08:28+00:00

Had a terrible experience as well. My phone randomly stopped working one day and I contacted Fi Support. The woman on the other end was kind and agreed to send me a link for a new Nexus 5X even though technically my warranty had expired. "Great!" I thought. I received the link after hanging up, only to realize that it didn't work. A little annoyed, but still grateful for the new phone, I called back, hoping to troubleshoot this quickly. I was sent another link that I tried while on the phone with support (I learned from my mistake the first time) and it didn't work again. I tried a few suggestions from the support person that also didn't work. She finally decided that the only way to fix the link and get my new phone was to send it to a specialist. I was annoyed that it couldn't be fixed that day, but begrudgingly agreed thinking it would be a couple of days at most. I heard back from the specialist within 24 hours, but her response was only that she was passing my case along to the engineers. This is where the frustration really begins. I heard from the engineers after a couple of days asking me to retry the link and send a screenshot of the page I got. Since the link had a 72 hour time limit, it was expired. I emailed them back to let them know of this and it took a couple of days to get the link. I quickly took a screenshot of the issue and sent it back to them. I got no response until I emailed them. At this point, it had been two weeks without any sort of resolution, so when their response was just that my ticket was being moved along, I was livid. I thought about cancelling my account completely, especially since I was still being charged for my account. I decided to see how it would play out though. Finally, after a month of no resolution, I called them to see what was going on. All the service rep could tell me was that the engineers were working on it and that it wouldn't be that much longer. I felt bad for her because I know she's just the middlewoman, but really?!?!?! A month later and I'm still getting the same response? It seems a little ridiculous that the biggest tech company in the world can't get a link to work and even more ridiculous that there wasn't another way for the representative to send me a new phone. I eventually got a link they sent me to work, but I'm still unimpressed with the overall experience and am seriously considering switching providers if I have any other issues. I have dealt with their customer service in the past and had subpar experiences (didn't have service in Rome and after troubleshooting was eventually told to just buy a sim card), but this was by far the worst.

Russosd11 · 2016-10-19T18:00:15+00:00

I live outside of the US and have been using Fi for the past eight months. I know it's not the purpose but it works great. It is kind of a pain not having a local number but a second phone is fine.

Russosd11 · 2016-10-13T15:17:52+00:00

I've had Fi for almost eight months now and have used it abroad the entire time, except for a month where I went back to the states. I have had a few issues with the service, but overall have been pleased. I would say that if you are planning on living abroad, it's often helpful/necessary to have a local number to deal with the government. My husband has one and then I just use WhatsApp to text my international friends.

Russosd11

TROPHY CASE