Advice on getting a mask onto a 2 year old

[Anonymous]

I didn’t bother and I don’t care and don’t feel bad. My 4 year old wears a mask just fine but my 2 year old does not. If we’re not requiring vaccines to fly and we’re allowing eating and drinking, it is pointless to mask a 2 year old. No one gave a second glance. It’s 2, not 3 or 4. Your 2 year old is basically still a baby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son only wore a mask for 10 min on the plane and nobody said anything to us (4 separate flights, but two were in Europe where masks are not required until 6).

My son now wears a masks at school and does well, but takes it off as sons as he leaves. He is turning 3 in April.

You should have put his mask back on. I do not care if you and your family get Covid but you have no right to expose my family! They should have thrown you off the plane

Why are you endangering your family by taking them on a plane in the first place? Tsk tsk.

This is OP. I am planning on trying my absolute hardest to get my 2 year old to comply, but you are being ridiculous. There are almost no outbreaks associated with plane travel at this point. And no that SA-Norway one doesn't count as they all supposedly tested negative prior to getting on the plane and no one contracts and multiplies the virus THAT fast.

Planes are really freaking safe. Additionally small children, especially the under 5s are the least likely to get and transmit the virus. I had a child test positive in our daycare, he had been in the daycare for two days. His whole family tests positive but not a single child at the daycare (all under 5s, none wearing masks, although staff wear masks) tested positive.

If you choose to get on the plane, you choose to expose your family to travel. And being exposed to a 2 year old is one of the least COVID dangerous situations you could possibly be in. Although I will say this, if the 2 year old did by chance have COVID, the last thing you want is to enrage them to the point where they are throwing their mask and throwing a full tantrum screaming out particles into the air. A quiet and compliant 2 year old is by far the way to go.

Honestly it is ridiculous they chose 2, they should have chosen 3. A 3 year old can be reasoned with, a 2 year old cannot be reasoned with.

OP relax. I am the poster with the 2 year old who only wore a mask for 10 min (if that). Don’t worry about the crazy poster. Most people don’t care and several adults and older kids end up lowering their masks at some point. As I said, in Europe they require masks only after 6 which makes much more sense to me. As I said, the only thing that really worked with my son was starting school. That said, we are traveling abroad again for the holidays and I am sure my son (or my older daughters) won’t be wearing a mask for the whole trip again.

[Anonymous]

I’ll preface this that I think it’s insane to mask two years olds.

But I also needed my newly 2 year old to mask on a plane so we finally succeeded by attaching mask wearing to exciting adventures. “Today we are going to see dinosaurs at the museum. When we go we must wear a mask or else we will have to leave. Are you excited to see the dinosaurs?”

[Anonymous]

+ one on tons of snacks so that they're just holding a snack cup any time anyone is paying attention. buy a smoothie at the airport so it takes awhile to consume. focus on the beginning of the flight when attendants check (promise m&ms if they leave their mask on for 10min or whataver)

all of that is if you cant get regular mask use. I have a super stubborn 2 year old and haven't won the battle so had to do all of the above on a flight

[Anonymous]

My kid turned two in September. It has been a nightmare trying to get him to wear it. I’m jealous of all the other parents saying they reasoned with them. If you want to go see the airplanes, you have to wear a mask. Haha…I guess my kid is behind cause that NEVER works for us. My only advice is snacks, lots of snacks. When people ask how old my kid is I always say, “he just turned two.” It’s a white lie but people tend to be more understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Connect it with screen time to have them get used to wearing it.

This is the recommendation our ped gave. Didn’t need to use it as we didn’t bother masking until close to 3.5 (we weren’t going anywhere anyway)

[Anonymous]

Try a bunch of different ones. Get lots of cute prints. Start for short periods of time. Go somewhere fun with the mask on, if the mask comes off you leave. The answer is practice. Just start practicing.

[Anonymous]

Are they enrolled in preschool or daycare? That’s what helped for our 2yo. Now, I question the necessity of 2yos wearing them to begin with, but once she got used to it at preschool getting her to wear it elsewhere is NBD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t bother and I don’t care and don’t feel bad. My 4 year old wears a mask just fine but my 2 year old does not. If we’re not requiring vaccines to fly and we’re allowing eating and drinking, it is pointless to mask a 2 year old. No one gave a second glance. It’s 2, not 3 or 4. Your 2 year old is basically still a baby.

+1

[Anonymous]

things that helped us the most:
-initial learning period: having someone other than mom or dad manage it for a while; the most stubborn toddler behavior is usually reserved for mom & dad
-hyping it up as "time to put on your BIG GIRL mask" (and, yes, I give myself a massive eye-roll for this, but, it's helped a lot)
-iPad time and tiny snacks like Cheerios that take forever to eat for the flight
-the Crayola silly print ones if you haven't found a good fit yet
-better to allow a mask break than try to aggressively force it back on and create a big scene

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are they enrolled in preschool or daycare? That’s what helped for our 2yo. Now, I question the necessity of 2yos wearing them to begin with, but once she got used to it at preschool getting her to wear it elsewhere is NBD.

Haha my 2 yr old is so stubborn. She wears it at school (although it gets so wet she goes through multiple ones a day so yea super useful I’m sure) but she will NOT wear it for us. Only the teachers. And she could not give less of an F about any privileges she may lose. She’s 2. She doesn’t care

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son only wore a mask for 10 min on the plane and nobody said anything to us (4 separate flights, but two were in Europe where masks are not required until 6).

My son now wears a masks at school and does well, but takes it off as sons as he leaves. He is turning 3 in April.

You should have put his mask back on. I do not care if you and your family get Covid but you have no right to expose my family! They should have thrown you off the plane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son only wore a mask for 10 min on the plane and nobody said anything to us (4 separate flights, but two were in Europe where masks are not required until 6).

My son now wears a masks at school and does well, but takes it off as sons as he leaves. He is turning 3 in April.

You should have put his mask back on. I do not care if you and your family get Covid but you have no right to expose my family! They should have thrown you off the plane

Why are you endangering your family by taking them on a plane in the first place? Tsk tsk.

This is OP. I am planning on trying my absolute hardest to get my 2 year old to comply, but you are being ridiculous. There are almost no outbreaks associated with plane travel at this point. And no that SA-Norway one doesn't count as they all supposedly tested negative prior to getting on the plane and no one contracts and multiplies the virus THAT fast.

Planes are really freaking safe. Additionally small children, especially the under 5s are the least likely to get and transmit the virus. I had a child test positive in our daycare, he had been in the daycare for two days. His whole family tests positive but not a single child at the daycare (all under 5s, none wearing masks, although staff wear masks) tested positive.

If you choose to get on the plane, you choose to expose your family to travel. And being exposed to a 2 year old is one of the least COVID dangerous situations you could possibly be in. Although I will say this, if the 2 year old did by chance have COVID, the last thing you want is to enrage them to the point where they are throwing their mask and throwing a full tantrum screaming out particles into the air. A quiet and compliant 2 year old is by far the way to go.

Honestly it is ridiculous they chose 2, they should have chosen 3. A 3 year old can be reasoned with, a 2 year old cannot be reasoned with.

OP relax. I am the poster with the 2 year old who only wore a mask for 10 min (if that). Don’t worry about the crazy poster. Most people don’t care and several adults and older kids end up lowering their masks at some point. As I said, in Europe they require masks only after 6 which makes much more sense to me. As I said, the only thing that really worked with my son was starting school. That said, we are traveling abroad again for the holidays and I am sure my son (or my older daughters) won’t be wearing a mask for the whole trip again.

My husband is an aviation analyst and he'll tell you again and again that airplane air is cleaner than the air in your house.

[Anonymous]

We had better luck with disposable masks. I think they were more comfortable. Also, we asked him to wear them outdoors at the playground last winter. I didn't think it was necessary, but it kept him a little warmer. So he didn't mind wearing it as much, and that gave him a chance to get used to it.

[Anonymous]

Masks on 2 year olds is insane.