Reply to S/o : long plane ride and jet lag advice?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP I don’t understand the anti tablet attitude or being proud you’ve held off. Id certainly rather my kids play games (including math, phonics, etc) and watch shows and movies that we’ve preloaded than hope their screens work and hope they can find appropriate things. If you’re landing in Europe in the am, we generally will hurry and get to sleep until 8/9am. It’s tough to wake up but getting out and about forces us on their time. Stay up until a decent time that first day and then you’ll be fine. If you don’t get to your hotel until after 8/9, get out and about and force everyone to stay up until at least 8pm. I find it helps to do something out in the sunlight w/ fresh air. My kids are duel citizens w/ an EU country so we go back and forth a lot. [/quote]

OP here. I am not proud of having held off, but I’m doing what I can to keep him off handheld as long as possible. I have a brother who was completely addicted to screens as a kid and having seen it firsthand, I just don’t want to do it. DS does get tv time and they do tablets at school. We just watched a movie yesterday. I’m not proudly anti screen or anything.

Maybe I’ll look into a personal dvd player and headphones for the plane instead so adults can use it too and we can get use out of it longterm. I don’t like the interactivity of the tablet. [/quote]

You control what is on the tablet. You can set a time limit on the tablet. DS had a bunch of games that reinforced math and reading skills at that age. We set up puzzle games and some board games for him. We downloaded movies that we thought he would like. The time can be used to take a break so he can do other things.

Most of us dealt with long plane flights without tablets and phones for most of our lives. Personally, I think it is great that DS can carry everything he needs to entertain himself in a backpack that weighs less then 20 pounds. OK, so that is a slight exaggeration but the number of books and toys and coloring books I carried as a kid traveling with my parents was crazy and heavy. A tablet greatly reduces that.

If you are really not interested in a tablet, then load up on books, coloring books, easily carried toys, a deck of cards, and other things that you think he can play with quietly in his seat. You are going to be carrying a heavier bag and he is going to be carrying a heavier bag. Pack some new toys and books that you can surprise him with. And then hope that the in seat consoles are there and working and have content on it you are ok with his watching.

The domestic flights I have been on no longer have seat consoles, everything is run through the app on your tablet or phone. I would bet that a portable DVD player is more expensive and heavier than a tablet with worse battery life as well.  I understand being worried about screens but there are ways to use them that are less worrisome. [/quote]

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