Get your Childs drink out or prepare to breast or bottle-feed a baby during take off to help prevent ear trauma.

Don't try to restrain your toddler in his seat belt now, let him kneel and look out of the window or stand up on his seat so he can introduce himself to the row behind. The less you restrict his movement the better; there may be a long queue of planes waiting to depart. We have been sat on many occasions next to the departure terminal for 15,30,45 and 60+ minutes.

When the seat belt sign is finally illuminated tell your child that the pilot has sent a message and asked him to put his seat belt on. Warn your child enthusiastically what's about to happen "isn't it exciting the pilots going to make the engines sound very noisy soon and it's going to be really bumpy, isn't that great!" so he is not taken by surprise by the engines becoming an extremely load roar even though the aircraft is still stationary; or the bouncing and juddering movements of the aircraft down the runway.

Breastfeeding/bottle feeding/sucking a soother/dummy/drinking from trainer beakers or sucking cartons of juice through straws all help ears adjust to the changes in cabin pressure, if you haven't got any ear planes. Once the plane has left the runway, it will climb until it reaches it's flight altitude and will level out and the fasten seatbelt sign will then go out.

It is possible to get thrown around quite violently should the aircraft encounter an air pocket or turbulent conditions so always keep seatbelts fastened on sleeping little ones and awake ones too when at all possible.

Children will enjoy a walk up and down the aisles.

Again pre-warn your children with enthusiasm about the bumpy nature of your impending landing and the roar of the reverse thrust being applied.

You will be asked to stay in your seat until the aircraft has completely stopped outside the arrival terminal and this is good advice. Often aircraft brake quite violently as they move around. Take this time to ensure that you have all your belongings out of the seat pocket.

When the aircraft finally stops sit and watch the mad rush of passengers from the safety of your seats. Far better than your children being knocked by passengers desperate to retrieve their hand luggage unaware of small children standing in the aisle. Also keep a look out for items falling from overhead lockers when first opened after landing, as the contents may have shifted precariously during the flight.