Kids fear of flying

Hollie84

Hi I'm hoping someone can help, we took my daughters away for the first time in 2013 and explained to them about the flight and how it makes you feel. Took on board activities and hand held games, my eldest who is now 8 went white as a ghost and started hyper ventilating, once up in the air she was fine but took some to calm her, the same happened when we took her away in 2014. We have now just booked this years holiday and I'm hoping for some advice if anyone knows anything that we can give her to keep her calm or if anyone knows of anything the Dr can prescribe. Like I say this is only on take off. My youngest is fine flying. She really upsets herself and her breathing goes OTT and she goes white. She loves going on holiday just hates the flight part and is already dreading it

Rambosmum

Ask your GP about giving her an antihistamine such as piriton or another which makes them drowsy, less 'serious' than say a tranquillizer. As I say, speak to your GP but I know some parents who do this to calm their kids down pre flight.

PompeyPete

Ask the question on the Trip Advisor Air Travel forum. I'm sure it'll be a regularly asked question, and have attracted both sound and ingenious suggestions.

lulu_92

I am terrified of flying. I went to Tenerife last year and I bought some Rescue Remedy pastilles from the airport. I was at the stage where I'd do anything not to be scared, and they were quite pleasant. They certainly didn't take my fear away but they calmed me down a lot.

My mum used to make me talk to her about something. She'd ask me questions about things like school and friends to take my mind off it. That worked reasonably well.

silvercar

We had similar. Went to the doctor and was subscribed diazepam (valium), child dosage in liquid form. She will grow out of it and quicker if the experience doesn't keep repeating, so get medication before it happens again.

MasterPoo

Hollie84 wrote: »

Hi I'm hoping someone can help, we took my daughters away for the first time in 2013 and explained to them about the flight and how it makes you feel. Took on board activities and hand held games, my eldest who is now 8 went white as a ghost and started hyper ventilating, once up in the air she was fine but took some to calm her, the same happened when we took her away in 2014. We have now just booked this years holiday and I'm hoping for some advice if anyone knows anything that we can give her to keep her calm or if anyone knows of anything the Dr can prescribe. Like I say this is only on take off. My youngest is fine flying. She really upsets herself and her breathing goes OTT and she goes white. She loves going on holiday just hates the flight part and is already dreading it

Poor baby. Turbulence really scares me, I get palpitations, dizzy and just pray, for the first time ever yesterday I decided to have some alcohol (not advising for an 8 year old) to calm my nerves and it really calmed me. Previously I've popped a sleeping tablet immediately after take off and sleep straight through if I'm lucky.

Obviously best to get medical advice from a professional, but piritone sounds like it might do the trick.

zagfles

Why put her through it - you don't have to fly to go on holiday, drive/ferry to France/Spain etc? As I've just said in another thread holidays are supposed to be fun and relaxing, if it's causing stress even thinking about flying why do it?

silvercar

zagfles wrote: »

Why put her through it - you don't have to fly to go on holiday, drive/ferry to France/Spain etc? As I've just said in another thread holidays are supposed to be fun and relaxing, if it's causing stress even thinking about flying why do it?

By conquering this when young, she will have the opportunity to explore the world as she grows up and as an adult.

shaun_from_Africa

silvercar wrote: »

By conquering this when young, she will have the opportunity to explore the world as she grows up and as an adult.

I couldn't agree more.
Many kids are afraid of flying/spiders/the dark/the boogie man etc and getting these fears addressed as soon as possible is in most cases, the most sensible thing to do.
There are probably many adults with various phobias and fears who want to conquer these but are too embarrassed to try and who wish something had been done to help them long ago.

missbiggles1

silvercar wrote: »

By conquering this when young, she will have the opportunity to explore the world as she grows up and as an adult.

I'm not sure that being drugged to tolerate the flight is the same as conquering the fear.

zagfles

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

I couldn't agree more.
Many kids are afraid of flying/spiders/the dark/the boogie man etc and getting these fears addressed as soon as possible is in most cases, the most sensible thing to do.
There are probably many adults with various phobias and fears who want to conquer these but are too embarrassed to try and who wish something had been done to help them long ago.

I was scared of the dark as a child. I had a night-light, I wasn't forced to sleep in pitch black or given drugs to "address" the problem, and I grew out of it as most kids grow out of childhood phobias. I'm now quite happy in the dark, in fact I like it as dark as possible and have blackout curtains in the bedroom.

Maybe the OP should take advice from a child psychiatrist rather than us though...