Flying with kids- how young is too young?

EDR wrote in message ...
In article , Snowbird
wrote:

"Paul Sengupta" wrote in message
. ..
$10 ear defenders (mentioned in another post) vs. $400 Lightspeeds.
She's starting this expensive taste thing young...

Could be. I'm not sure what "ear defenders" are, exactly, but
if they're foam ear plugs, standard adult size plugs are too
big for little ears, and if you've ever worn ear plugs for extended
periods you know that if they're not a decent fit and installed
just right they can be painful.

Sydney, the trick with foam earplugs is to cut them in half, lengthwise.
They are then small enough to fit in children's ears.

EDR, that solves the issue of "too big for little ears" but I wear
foam earplugs frequently, and DH deals professionally with teaching
proper use and insertion of same. So on the basis of extensive experience
with the things, we can both vouch for two things:
1) how effective they are is very dependent on whether they are
inserted correctly -- deeply enough, and in a manner which allows
them to expand fully (the mfrs will all acknowledge this)
2) how comfortable they are is very dependent on the initial "fit"
of the earplug vs. the ear then on how they are inserted. if
someone has small ears and inserts a long style too deeply, they
are PAINFUL. Likewise several styles of earplug which I can fit
in my ear, are actually a bit too large diameter and are likewise
PAINFUL.

You might not notice either factor if you've only worn earplugs for a
short time while doing a not-too-noisy activity (mowing the lawn for an
hour, say), but if you wear them for 8-10 hrs in a truly high-noise
environment both become apparent.

Since an infant is quite unable to communicate about how effective
the hearing protection is, and since it's quite difficult to sort
out "how dare you stick these things in my ear!" from "this hurts!"
in 'infantese' (and I say this as a supposedly more-empathic mother),
we consider foam ear plugs unsuitable for use in infants.

YMMV.

Cheers,
Sydney

"Paul Sengupta" wrote in message .. .
"Snowbird" wrote in message
om...
Could be. I'm not sure what "ear defenders" are

Like a headset but without the electric bits.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P2EB31E37
http://www.transair.co.uk/jepdoubles...ardefs_big.htm

Pink! Cool! But actually, we used stock shooting-range or
industrial type hearing protectors, which are considerably
cheaper. Tasco Golden Eagle is one brand which fits a small
infant beautifully. Peltor II is another. The top does need
to be filled in w/ extra padding and a cloth, but I think that's
a benefit, just makes them more comfy for small head. They typically
cost US $15-20 through industrial safety supply places, and of
course have the benefit of being useful for adults as well.

I *think* by the time the child is old enough to register a
preference for pink or green, they are old enough that the
trip will be better if they are able to listen to their favorite
songs while flying, so I'd go for a headset at that point (they
don't need to be plugged into the ICS, one can buy various adaptors
at Radio Shack to hook a headset to an ordinary cassette or CD
player. the music will be rather soft unless one takes care of
the impedence matching issue which several archived posts explain).

I suppose I should note that my concerns arise from experience
entertaining a small child on multi-leg trips sometimes
lasting two days (ie 6-9 hrs a day flying) and that someone who
is only trying to take a child around the pattern twice might
find pink or green earmuff-style protectors the perfect solution
and music etc a needless hassle.

Last night we were in an electronic store looking at televisions,
and said small child gravitated to the portable DVD players like
a bee to nectar so I suppose soon simple music will be passe' .
Naturally she preferred the $600 Sony to the $188 Brand X, but
at $1/wk allowance it will be some time before she can afford
either one.

Cheers,
Sydney

"Paul Sengupta" wrote in message . ..
Pilots?

Former student pilots who had soloed and then quit. I just
got a "feeling" from them. And while I'm quite able and prepared
to backfist someone in the face and knock them out if that's what
the safety of flight requires of me, I'd strongly prefer to just
avoid situations which might require this.

S

"Snowbird" wrote in message
I've un-invited a couple of
large adult males when I got the sense that they thought they
knew more about flying than they did, and that they might not
be willing to accept me as pilot-in-command and the ultimate
arbiter of 'what goes' on the flight.

Ah, obviously, no one has taught you the secret trick to inserting
earplug!

Gently pinch the top of the ear between thumb and forefinger.
Gently lift upward. This straightens the ear canal for easier insertion.
Once the earplug has been compressed by rolling it between the
fingertips, it will easily fit the straightened ear canal before
expanding.