Flying and Children

on January 9th, 2007

Funny topic came up at lunch today – is it OK to drug your kids before you go on an airplane? You know slip them a little Benadryl before takeoff so they sleep the flight away and don’t disturb other people on board.

I showed up strongly on the side of no – but surprisingly enough I was the only one in the group. Apparently, all of my co-workers (some with kids, others not) are OK with drugging their children. So I thought two things – 1) am I just being an over-protective parent, and should just drug them even when they are happy just so they behave, and 2) where do you draw the line if this is OK?

If your kid is healthy, should you give them drugs just to calm their nerves on a flight? Should I give them drugs to knock them out so I could enjoy a movie in a theater for once? As we talked about it, sure, I would certainly do other things – give them something natural (a big meal, hot tea, a whole turkey leg) that would calm them down – but drugs felt like it was over the line. According to a recent poll – quite a few parents are willing to to it though right before a flight.

So I guess my question is – are you? Leave a comment and settle this debate among the team!

JG

Leave a Comment

Amber at 9:08pm January 9

As tempting as the idea sounds, I don’t think I would do that. I hesitate to give my daughter meds as it is (unless she needs them of course!) because I think many people’s bodies can become resistant to medicine over time so that a bigger dose is needed for future illnesses.

We will be flying to Vancouver in April with an active and very loud just-turning-two year old. I may change my vote after the flight out there… :-)

dad at 9:34am January 13

When my children were little, they always seemed to have “colds” about the time we had to drive 20 hours straight to G’mas house for Christmas.

Poor sick children. Needed dimetap or such.

Josh probably doesn’t remember this. He was pretty groggy the whole way to Wyoming . . .