The girls sat with The Dad in one row, and I sat with Fainjin in the row ahead of them.
As we took off and started the ascent: “Mu-um… does this plane have wings?”
Later, looking down at the clouds: “Do the clouds have mountains in them? … ‘Cos they have white on their tops…”
And reading the safety card, which he loves because it’s like a cartoon: “Are we going to land on the water? Sea planes land on the water and go really fast, but planes with wheels don’t land on the water do they Mummy? Will we land on the grass?” “No, we’ll land on the runway at the airport.” “But this picture says we have to land on the water or on the grass!”
I felt a bit sorry for the passenger sitting next to us… but at least this time Fainjin didn’t ask, in all excited anticipation, “Are we going to crash?!”
© UpsideBackwards 2011.
UpsideBackwards 
October 22, 2011 at 8:29 pm |
Oh mum Fainjin and Heidi would make a great travel due, she often asks on plane flights “Are we going to die now?” 😮
October 22, 2011 at 10:10 pm |
Eeep! Fainjin isn’t nervous or afraid, just has matter-of-fact questions. Nonetheless, I work hard to keep any nervousness on my part invisible to the children!
October 25, 2011 at 9:09 am |
The first time R was on a plane (age 5), he got to go down the slide (it crash landed at a special airport, foam on runway, etc, due to possibly malfunctioning landing gear). So now, when he doesn’t get to go down the slide, he feels like something’s missing…
I did not know this, when the first time I was on a plane with him (as an adult), he turned to me and excitedly said “I hope we crash!”
He knows that I NEVER want him to say that to me on a plane again. 🙂
October 29, 2011 at 8:23 pm |
I don’t want to fly with him either! On the other hand, R & Fainjin could fly together and have lots of fun 🙂
On a subsequent flight he noticed the little icon of a smoking plane heading rapidly downwards on the safety card and asked “Why’s the plane on fire Mummy?”, much to the consternation of people in front of us who couldn’t see what he was looking at…
October 30, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Oh, it’s been almost two decades – he doesn’t do it (much) any more, but it also doesn’t phase me any more. That first time, with no warning, when I was a naive young thing, *on a plane*? Scared the living daylights out of me.
Why’s the plane on fire indeed. 🙂 The folks in front of you perhaps didn’t have much experience with children?