‘Are we nearly there yet?’
It’s a question that most parents dread – and according to new research, it takes less than one hour for children to utter it during a flight.
Specifically, young fliers aged under 12 years old wait just 49 minutes and 47 seconds to enquire about the estimated time of arrival, leaving parents to manage both boredom thresholds and patience at 39,000ft.
Not long enough: Young fliers aged under 12 years old wait just 49 minutes and 47 seconds to enquire about the estimated time of arrival on a flight
Fortunately, Emirates – who conducted the research – has teamed up with Dr Sandi Mann, a psychologist and boredom specialist at the University of Central Lancashire, to help find a solution.
She’s worked with the airline to create the Child Boredom Quotient, which helps parents identify the exact moment their kids will get fed-up.
And the study, of more than 2,000 UK parents of under-12s, helped Dr Mann draw up a range of activities to catch boredom before it sets in.
The findings, which also saw two thirds of parents (64 per cent) worry about entertaining their children and 43 per cent express concern about their children disturbing other passengers, found travellers aged three to four years to be the most volatile.
Bribery techniques such as giving out snacks (41 per cent) in exchange for good behaviour were often used just to keep the peace.
Other tried and tested methods of distraction for parents include employing electronic devices (33 per cent) even if they’re not allowed at home, handing out new toys (27 per cent) to keep their tots happy or trying to tire out their children by running around the airport before boarding (16 per cent).
Concerned: 64 per cent of parents worry about entertaining their children on a flight, while 43 per cent fear disturbing others
DR SANDI MANN’S TOP BOREDOM-BEATING TIPS
All ages
Encouraging children to sleep
After electronic activities, the next most time-occupying activity is sleeping. Surprisingly, there is very little difference across the ages with parents reckoning that all children from 0-12 sleep for around 80 minutes on a plane. Make sure you pack your child’s comfort blankets, cuddly toys – all those objects that help them doze off in your hand luggage.
Make use of in-flight entertainment systems – watching a movie is the best distraction for all ages, spending anywhere between 70-100 minutes on this. Watching a TV show, playing games on the inflight system and then playing on a smart device are also advised as the top entertainment for children. The Emirates Ice entertainment system offers dedicated children’s channels including TV shows, movies, music and games.
Timetable: The Child Boredom Quotient details how many minutes certain activities will entertain a child based on their age
Young children (ages 0-6)
Don’t overbear younger children with too many activities – research shows that less is more when it comes to keeping young children distracted on a flight. Allow them to explore objects and things in the environment. For example, take them for walks up and down the aisles and give them interactive games using their surroundings. For example, find a man wearing a hat, find a red T-shirt and so on.
Remember to leave space in hand luggage for colouring/drawing books. Drawing was the most popular activity for children aged nine and younger. Colouring/sticker books had the most appeal for younger ages and quizzes/puzzles are better-suited to older children.
Older children (ages 7-12)
Listening to music
Eleven to 12-year-olds can spend up to 50 minutes listening to music compared with a mere 13 for younger children.
Engage and talk to children
Children will chat with their parents or each other for 50-100 minutes in total, which is actually similar to the amount of time spent on electronic activities. So, remember during the flight to switch up activities and take away electronic devices to encourage children to talk to one another whether it be about the film they just watched to what they want to eat.
‘Parents of children aged three to four will start to find that this is when their children are physically very active, gaining independence and when they need more sophisticated things to entertain them than they did when they were younger,’ says Dr Mann.
‘For instance, the electronic babysitter – whilst popular for a flight – may not work for all age groups and parents of younger children will find that they have less attention span for this than older ones.
‘Breaking up this passive activity for active or creative ones will stop children becoming bored, restless and less disruptive.’
Bribery: Techniques such as giving out snacks in exchange for good behaviour were used by 41 per cent of parents
However, it’s not just bribery that parents resort to when travelling with their children on a plane. An honest seven per cent revealed that that they simply try to relax with an eye mask to block out the disturbance.
When engaging in an activity onboard, films are the most popular way to keep children occupied from around 40 minutes for the youngest age group (0 to two years) to one hour 45 minutes for the oldest (11-12).
This is followed by games either on a smart device or on the inflight entertainment system (keeping kids occupied from 30 minutes for the youngest to 1.5 hours for the oldest).
Meanwhile, creative pursuits such as drawing was the most popular until age nine when quizzes and puzzles became more engaging whilst colouring and sticker books had most appeal to the younger ages.
Data analysis: Emirates surveyed more than 2,000 parents of children under 12 years old to assess boredom thresholds
TOP TIPS FOR TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN – BY THE SCUMMY MUMMIES
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 five 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
The Scummy Mummies comedy duo host a fortnightly chat show for less-than-perfect parents and perform live shows around the UK
A 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 their name is.
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…
The Scummy Mummies comedy duo – Ellie Gibson and Helen Thorn – host a fortnightly chat show for less-than-perfect parents and perform live shows around the UK.
Dr Sandi Mann comments further: ‘Very young children don’t need very sophisticated toys for a plane journey and will be most amused by things in the environment – including people and of course their parents.
‘For example, this could be “I Spy”, whilst regular walks up the aisle are good for toddlers for exercise and for pre-toddles to change the visual environment. Don’t forget singing and interactive games like peekaboo are also great.
‘Older children can be given simple materials like notebooks and pens, puzzle books and comics. Ensure that they take breaks every so often to walk up and down the plane and try to restrict the passive viewing just like you might at home. Don’t be afraid of them being bored as left to their own devices with a few basic materials, they will find creative ways to engage their brains.’
Jade Cobbs, Emirates Cabin Supervisor, comments: ‘With the half-term school holidays on the horizon, we understand that parents often dread the idea of travelling on a long-haul flight with bored children.
‘However, parents need not wait until the boredom alarm sets off. Whether it’s utilising the cabin crew to provide your kids with activity packs to watching the family friendly TV shows and movies on Emirates’s Ice entertainment system, families can avoid the boredom threshold via some pre-prepared activities, interactive games or in-flight entertainment.’