• Replies 4 replies
  • Subscribers 69 subscribers
  • Views 2151 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Fear of flying

NAS64645

Hi 

my 11 year old son has an extreme fear of flying but we have a wedding to attend abroad. He has travelled by plane when he was younger and had a meltdown before boarding but we managed to calm him to get him in the plane. We didn’t fly for several years hoping his fear would disappear but it hasn’t. Now he’s older I don’t think we would be able to calm and distract him as easily and he sometimes runs away when anxious. Any ideas on how we can get him to see flying in a different way and how do airport staff handle older children having a meltdown would they still let us fly? We couldn’t go without him but don’t want to miss the wedding but he is set against flying

Parents

  • Have you asked him what it is about flying which causes his fear? Because the approach would vary a lot depending on the answer. If he is afraid of the plane crashing, then no amount of taking him to visit airports would fix that. He would need to see stats about how unlikely plane crashes are, and maybe find out how planes work, aerodynamics, safety systems and all that. But if his problem is the crowds of people, being stuck in a seat for hours, the sensations of movement, changes in air pressure, turbulence etc then that is a more sensory issue. So your first step should be to have a chat with him and unpick his feelings about each aspect of flying. It might be a difficult conversation which might have to be done in small chunks over a few days if it makes him upset to even think about it, but it is vital to find out the exact nature of the problem so you don't end up wasting time and resources trying to fix the wrong problem while leaving the real problem unsolved.

Reply

  • Have you asked him what it is about flying which causes his fear? Because the approach would vary a lot depending on the answer. If he is afraid of the plane crashing, then no amount of taking him to visit airports would fix that. He would need to see stats about how unlikely plane crashes are, and maybe find out how planes work, aerodynamics, safety systems and all that. But if his problem is the crowds of people, being stuck in a seat for hours, the sensations of movement, changes in air pressure, turbulence etc then that is a more sensory issue. So your first step should be to have a chat with him and unpick his feelings about each aspect of flying. It might be a difficult conversation which might have to be done in small chunks over a few days if it makes him upset to even think about it, but it is vital to find out the exact nature of the problem so you don't end up wasting time and resources trying to fix the wrong problem while leaving the real problem unsolved.

Children
No Data