Everything Dad Bought To Occupy Baby on Flight—and How Long It Worked For

A man’s inventive attempts at keeping his toddler son busy on a flight have been chronicled in a video shared to social media by his wife.

Everyone knows that parenting young children can be a stressful experience. A 2023 Pew Research Center study found that while 29 percent of parents surveyed experienced chronically high levels of parenting stress, that proportion increased among parents with children under the age of five (35 percent).

Parenting a young child within a confined space like a plane is likely to only add to the stress, but it’s something Ashley Cassidy and her husband are already well-versed in when it comes to their 18-month-old toddler.

“We took our first flight with our son when he was around 3 months old, and I was very nervous for that trip simply because I had no idea what to expect; plus we had a cross-country flight and layover so it was going to be a long day,” Cassidy told Newsweek.

“He did have one meltdown on the final leg of the trip, but it only lasted a few minutes and in hindsight it wasn’t as big of a deal as it felt in the moment. Luckily we’ve always been around other parents on flights who understand what it feels like to travel with a small child and they give us a lot of grace and kind encouragement, but the concern is always lingering for me when it comes to doing our best not to disturb travelers that aren’t so understanding.”

Keeping their son content on flights is especially challenging given one key decision Cassidy and her husband made about raising their son. “When our son was born we made the conscious decision not to use screens as much as we could to avoid it,” she said. “He’s now almost 18 months old and we’ve stuck to that, which is great but in times of travel it can be tough for us to always be ‘on’ to entertain our busy one-year-old who wants a new activity every few minutes.”

Cassidy said her son is also increasingly mobile and “wants to be up and moving as much as possible” which adds another layer of complications to air travel. However, her husband is always finding ways to keep him engaged that don’t involve a screen.

Cassidy provided a glimpse of his approach in a video posted to her TikTok, ashbegash, during a 90 minute flight from Los Angeles to Arizona. In the video her husband can be seen producing a box of items designed to keep their son occupied on the flight. Some of the items might seem unconventional but, as the video shows, they are surprisingly effective at keeping him busy for the duration of the flight.

A miniature basketball game eats up a few minutes as does a homemade straw game and miniature hockey stick. Dad’s tape measure proves a real winner, clocking up nine minutes of play time, as does the airplane cookie package, some tape and dangling twine and a large blue tape roll.

Toy sticky monsters eat up a few more valuable minutes, as does half an electric toothbrush. In the end mom and dad eat up the final few minutes onboard with “dad hugs” and a quick power nap, but it’s ultimately mission accomplished as the plane lands.

“Packing activities is my husband’s specialty! He typically handles the in-flight activity options and every trip is a surprise,” Cassidy said. “Random items from around the house that spark our son’s curiosity usually work the best. The tape measure was the fan favorite on this particular flight, keeping our son occupied for a whole nine minutes.”

Cassidy knows there will always be those who are opposed to the idea of kids being on planes but she has always viewed the parents she has seen with children on aircraft as “brave and encouraging of adventure.”

“Since having my own child I look at parents now and realize how tired and stressed they most likely are, and admire them even more than I have in the past,” Cassidy said. “To anyone with issues about kids on planes, I recommend investing in better noise cancelling headphones.”