Kids are unpredictable on long flights. While parents often stress over their behavior, sometimes you'll get a lucky surprise as your child rests comfortably. Nice!

California kids vacations - How many parents have been ready to board a flight only to find their child hurls all over the floor, has a major diaper dump, or begins screaming and won't stop? Welcome to the joys of parenthood. Travel with kids on flights really can put you to the test of abilities to cope. You gotta love the little critters, but sometimes a travel experience can be tougher than any boot camp exercise that the Army could concoct.

Kids are unpredictable, and air travel is an experience that upsets their schedule, their feeding regimen, and everything warm and comforting they've grown accustomed to enjoying on a daily basis.  There's a whole ritual beyond the few parents who were lucky enough to grab the front row seats in pre-boarding. After those spots are gone, as the parents with babies and tiny tots enter the plane, the curious, nervous eyes of other passengers survey the situation and wonder whether a baby will be good, and will it be placed by them for a 12 hour flight. 

Such concerns are understandable, especially for those who don't have children and never have. Or like smokers who gave up cigarettes and have now become ultra-sensitive, parents of grown children can also be the least tolerant on flights.

Rule number one is that there's not a lot you can do about what happens. In your role as a parent, we know you've packet the crackers, the bottles filled with water, chewing gum for older kids, and whatever you can find to keep them entertained, busy, and keep their ears from hurting from the air pressure.

My many travels both as a parent and as a business traveler have yielded some surprises. When my son was little, people around me on the flight were incredibly tolerant as I sweat bullets, worrying if he was going to become a little screamer. I made it through the numerous flights much better than I would have imagined (though I still remember a few of those difficult times when your child suddenly seems to be getting sick when you're at the airport waiting for your flight.)

And today as a business traveler, I am amazed at just how good the majority of children are. You would think with the large number of kids that seem to have little discipline in stores that there would be a lot more turmoil and noise on flights.  I have just been incredibly lucky, I guess, but even when a kid pounds on the back of my seat, I really don't mind when I look back to discover the cute little face and big eyes staring at me. 

Tip: Talk to the people around you on a flight and let them know you are doing the best you can to take care of your child. Sometimes even asking for advice or help early on creates a line of communication useful in building cooperation.

A recent Dr. Phil show included a guest, a mother, who was actually removed from a flight with her noisy child. There are numerous versions to such stories, but in this case, the flight attendant told the mom to shut her kid up, according to the woman, then suggested she give her son a cough medicine to make him drowsy so he'd sleep and be quiet. When the outraged mother refused, they turned the plane around on the landing strip and unloaded the mom and her kid. Humiliation, disbelief and fear are created from such stories as each parent imagines this worst case scenario will become their tale.

While the crammed seats, shortage of fresh circulating air, time on the runway and efforts to move through baggage claim become more challenging to parents with kids and even seniors who just aren't physically fit to endure the stress, you have to make the best of it. And in California, you can always drive once you are in the state. The state of California stretches approx. 1000 miles from San Diego to the Oregon border, taking two days safely to traverse. The coast to the state border east to west can be reached in approx. four hours.  And major cities such as Los Angeles to San Francisco take approx. seven to eight hours by car. The scenery, restaurants and stops along the way are spectacular.  This offers you an option to flying with kids. And as they grow, it provides educational experiences.

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