Emirates has worked with comedy duo, Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn from the Scummy Mummies to find out their top tips on surviving long-haul travel with your kids – including frank, honest, and often hilarious parenting advice ranging from wearing a bin liner to casual bribery with sugar highs and movie marathons.
WHAT TO WEAR
Always wear clothes that you’d be happy to put in the bin, or go one step further and just wear win a bin liner
Another idea is a plastic poncho – you can wipe it clean, put up the hood and have a nice nap
WHAT TO BRING
The three main bribery tools are sugar, tablets and toys – if you say that you can eat as many sweets as you want, watch TV for a day and play with sack loads of toys, they’ll do whatever you want
Give your kids new toys to play with so you buy at least 5 minutes more playtime on the flight before they get bored with it, break it or throw up on it
Or alternatively, wrap up old toys so they think they are actual presents, every hour you get through you can give them a new toy
GAMES TO PLAY
My favourite game is ‘WHO CAN BE QUIET THE LONGEST?’ It doesn't usually last very long but it's worth it even for 90 seconds of peace
Play make-shift ’Guess Who?’ with fellow passengers, in which you guess what the person is like or what’s their name
Other hits include ‘The Whisper Game,’ ‘Let's Cover Our Mouths With Our Hands’ and ‘Shut Up If You Want A Lolly’
MAKING THE MOST OF THE AEROPLANE
If the plane has a TV in the back of the seat, the channel showing where the plane is on a world map is good if your child is old enough to be interested. Try talking them through it – and if you have no knowledge of Geography, just make stuff up. "And that's the capital of Kazakhstan." "But Mummy, I thought that was the Isle of Man?" "Yes, that's what I said."
FAILING THAT…
Noise-cancelling headphones are a good idea as you can’t hear the kids or your other half
Alternatively, leave your partner with the kids, head to the toilet and stare out of the window to ponder on life’s big questions…
To hear more tips and advice from the Scummy Mummies on long-haul travel with kids, make sure you visit https://youtu.be/UXS_0T9OGxw to see more and find out about the Emirates Child Boredom Quotient.
Comedy duo Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn together form the Scummy Mummies, two mothers from South London who host a fortnightly podcast show for less-than-perfect parents. Follow them on Instagram @scummymummies, Twitter @scummymummies and Facebook @scummymummiespodcast.