BY Jeff Ruffolo
I don’t like to fly in Economy.
I love to fly – but I don’t like to fly in Economy Class. The seats are all squished together everyone you are flying with looks like a section of sardines.
Now, I am a big man. I stand at 6’1” and tower over most people. So when you stick me in a itty bitty little airline seat, the only recourse I have from the mental torture of a seemingly endless flight and wanting to jump out the window at 35,000 feet – sans parachute – are the in-flight magazines that are tucked away in the seat pocket barely 12 inches in front of my face.
Likewise when parents travel with toddlers and youngsters who have a difficult adjusting to the changes in altitude, flipping through the pages of an airline magazine may be the only thing to divert their attention away from their gnashing together their new teeth.
And when the airplane reached it cruising altitude, an airline magazine becomes yet another worthy item to put into the hands of a child.
(From C.E.L. Ruffolo: Probably. Or perhaps, the parents can bring in some picture books the kids can check out. But if the child chooses screaming over the mile-long list of ‘Things to Do in the Airplane Without Disturbing Your Fellow Passengers’, there is really nothing much you can do. Try candies or toys. But nope, these won’t work for six-month-olds.)
So perhaps, you can help your children turn the pages. Allow them to feel the slickness of each page and the feeling of the heavy weight of the magazine in their hands.
No doubt that as a parent you will have your hands full just managing your toddler (and we have two!) so anything that diverts their little minds from screaming like a banshee is worth it.
(From C.E.L. Ruffolo: Or anything that will divert your mind as well.)
P.S.: Arrived safely in Paris, France from Guangzhou, China after a 13-hour flight. It took some time for us to go online as the internet connection in our home for the first six days – Marriott Vacation Club – Village d’lle-de-France – is crappy. It’s almost 1 p.m. as of this posting here in Paris. That’s around 8 p.m. in China and Philippines.
