You all know the scene – you sit down on a plane and then you notice that the seats in front of you belong to a family travelling with small children. I used to complain about them too (at least to my travelling companions) but now I’m getting to the age where I know that’ll be me soon.

My future children will definitely have to become good travellers as we take them back and forth from Australia to Germany to visit their grandparents and other relatives. So I’m already trying to learn from the advice of friends in similar circumstances – here are a few of the main tips they give:

Make sure you get the seat with a bassinet or cot
Pre-book that bulkhead seat where they attach a cot for your baby. Apparently all airlines have different policies about that, and some aren’t too reliable about actually providing the seat you’ve booked, so hassle them.

Travel with tired kids
Try to schedule flights that will take place during times your children usually sleep. Impossible with a long-haul flight, but if you can at least make the first leg relatively easy with a sleeping child, then you’re half way there.

Allow extra time for everything
Get to the airport earlier and avoid tight connections. Everything takes longer with children.

Be prepared for take-off
Remember that children’s ears are super-sensitive to the air pressure changes that we barely notice any more. Give them something to drink or to suck on during take-off but be prepared for screaming anyway.

Ration out the entertainment
Have a new toy or colouring book ready to surprise the kids with when boredom begins. Let them watch as many in-flight movies as they can concentrate on – forget your normal TV limits. Likewise, if they’re old enough, let them play the onboard computer games for hours.

Ask for help
Identify the kind flight attendants who think your kids are cute, and passengers around you who are also parents and have sympathy for your plight. You might need their help, and don’t be afraid to ask.

Ignore the complaints
It’s not fair, but you might get complaints to your face, or at least sense some discomfort around you. Ignore them. Those people who think you shouldn’t take young children on flights are just unsympathetic and pretty thoughtless.

Limit the luggage, but take everything you need
Packing for travels with kids is a bit paradoxical. Try to strike a balance between having everything you need to deal with any problems they might have, and to keep them entertained, but avoid having too much hand luggage to battle with, when you’ll probably also have a stroller or pram to handle as well.

Share the load
As soon as your toddlers get big enough, have them carry some of their toys in their own backpack for as long as they can. It helps you and encourages good travelling habits.

To drug or not to drug?
There’s a lot of talk about giving child-safe sedatives to your kids to help them sleep better on a flight. It’s absolutely a talk-to-your-doctor area because some children have bad reactions to these drugs. None of my friends have resorted to using them yet – but some people swear by them.

I’d love to hear more child-friendly flying hints, so tell us your best tips too.

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