This summer, I flew across the country (a direct flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.) with my three-year-old for the first time without my husband. We’ve flown several times as a family in the past, but my husband couldn’t make this trip because he couldn’t take time off work.

I was really anxious about the flight, especially since my daughter was going through a very clingy and whiny phase. I’m happy to say we survived – and she did a lot better than anticipated. My anxiety was worse on the flight there than it was coming back. Thankfully, my daughter was fine for both flights.

In preparation for the flight, I did a few things which helped. Here are some tips and products that helped us on our flight.

A Variety of Single-Serve Snacks

We attended a few events (such as SoCal Moms Great Big Family Play Day and the Parasol launch party), weeks prior to our trip, that had snacks in the swag bag, so I saved those to take on the flight. Everything was individually wrapped. Some brands were new to us (Cabo Chips), and others were favorites (Skinny Pop). I’m glad I had the variety of snacks, because they tasted a lot better than the bag of pretzels the airline provided.

Travel-sized coloring and activity sets

A friend of ours gave my daughter this cute travel-sized pack of coloring pages and mini washable markers for her birthday. It was perfect for the flight because it was in a compact box that fit easily in her backpack.

Other coloring and activity sets I recommend:

Travel Toy Activity Bag

I created a version of the activity bag (pictured above) with similar items collected from birthday party favor bags. If you don’t want to make one yourself, you can buy this one from Amazon.

Crayola Color Wonder Stow & Go Studio

For those who have a little more room in their carry-on, the Crayola Color Wonder Stow & Go Studio is a good option. It’s “mess free coloring,” which means the markers only show up on Crayola “Color Wonder” pages. This is perfect for parents who worry about their child coloring off the pages.

A surprise gift for the plane – for being so good about flight delays

My daughter doesn’t own any figure dolls, so I decided it would be a nice “special gift” to give her on the plane for being patient in case there was a delay or problem with the flight. She showed interest in these types of dolls when we went to the beach with friends a few months ago. I bought the Disney Jasmine doll (on sale for less than $10), took it out of the box, wrapped it up with a bow and kept it in the bag for her. Luckily, I didn’t need it on our flight out, so I saved it for our flight back. About two hours into five-hour flight, I took out the gift and presented it to her for being so patient about the unexpected one-hour flight delay. She was thrilled and played with it for about 10 minutes. Then it was back to the iPad.

Interactive Tablet – iPad, Kindle

Two months before the flight, I took away all screen time and told my daughter she had to wait until we were on the plane to watch something on the iPad. It worked, because the iPad entertained my daughter for most of the flight. We loaded a few movies and games on the iPad, but oddly enough, what she enjoyed the most was the Baby Einstein Numbers Nursery video she frequently watched as an infant.

We don’t own a Kindle Fire for kids, but my friend does (and loves it). It’s probably a better option for little ones than the iPad. The Kindle Fire for Kids tablet has a 2-year worry-free guarantee includes coverage for anything that happens to it.

Headphones for Kids

I’m glad my friend Bethany suggested the brand LilGadgets for headphones because I had no idea what to look for. I love how they fold nicely and come with a lightweight storage bag. Another feature which you can’t see on the photo above (but can see in the photo for the tablet) is the cord doesn’t get tangled easily because it’s covered like a shoelace. There is a SharePort on the headset, so there’s no need for a splitter, and the volume is set at a lower decibel level to protect little ear drums. The company LilGadgets also donates portion of each purchase towards bullying prevention in schools.

An old iPod

Most of our smartphones replaced the need for iPods, but I still like using my husband’s old iPod for travel. First off, my smartphone’s battery is crap. So when I’m on a plane, I keep it turned off. Second, I don’t want to use the limited storage on my phone to store kid’s music. I love the iPod because I keep all my kid’s favorite songs on it, and it’s easy enough for a toddler to navigate. The iPod Shuffle is even waterproof, making it easy to wipe off, should there be any juice box spills!

Other thoughts

Thankfully, those diversions worked. I’m sure as my daughter gets older, the list will change. Hopefully, the list will get shorter, especially when she starts to read!

Some thoughts that helped put my mind at ease when flying with my kid:

• You’re not alone – there are probably more children on the same flight, with parents who have (and had) similar challenges
• Hearing someone else’s kid cry on the plane doesn’t bother me as much as the sound of my own kid…so when my kid is making a ruckus, I shouldn’t worry too much
• Most passengers use earbuds or headphones and are busy entertaining themselves, so the sound of your kid is the least of their problems
• It’s not likely you will see the people from your flight again