Preparing 2.5 yr old for security procedures

[NotUrsula]

Just to be clear, my ugly experience at DEN happened after TSA took over. However, DEN is notorious for having ultra-strict security; I've seen all sorts of incidents happen there.

 

[4greatboys]

I cant believe they would try to seperate children from their parents. It doesnt hurt anyone to wait for one parent to be done to watch the kids while they check the other. Or imagine single parents, wonder what they do?
Our trip last Sept our 2 yr old wouldnt walk through the doorway alone so dh had to carry him through holding him way out in front (like you do when they have stinky pants on ). Other than that we really had no problems with security here in Houston or Orlando.

 

[I am JEN]

We will be going through the screeners tomorrow morning and I've not even thought about my 2 yr old dd going through it...now that I think about it, I'm possitive that she will NOT go through that doorway alone...she is very shy and will probably cry. I'll just deal with it when it happens and THANKS to the person that mentioned the hair barrettes so I can take it out of her hair ahead of time! I also love the idea of the doorway being like the one in Monsters Inc...that's her very fav movie!

 

[mcnuss]

http://www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_0083.xml

 

[undertheradar]

We flew one-way from Cincinnati to Los Angeles last December-me,DW,DS-12,DD-6,DD-4. Going cross country one-way, we were all searched as well as every bag, both checked and carry on. Our family of five had 10 people searching our bags and the process was pretty smooth. I would not prepare my child for anything more than going through the scanner. Perhaps a trip to a larger museum or a local courthouse where these are in use would be warranted. Remember that your bags will be searched when entering all of the area theme parks. We told our kids to be ready and to ask questions if they needed to.

 

[minniemouse71]

We had an incident at the Chicago airport with my two year old grandson. The security people insisted that he go through the scanner first. It took me forever to finally convince them that if they let his grandfather, mother, or myself go through first, that we could then convince him to come to one of us. I realize that this all happened in December 2001, but you would think that security would understand that children that age are not going to walk through those things alone, unless someone they know is waiting on the other side.

 

[abeyst]

We show our kids what will happen at the security gate by pointing out what the people in front of us are doing. We point out the beeps that sometimes happen if you have metal on you, that items going in the screener do come out the other side, and if we're lucky and there's other kids in front of us in line we can show them how the other kids walk through the "Monsters Inc door". Using examples they can see while we're waiting gives them a chance to see what others are doing and it's close enough to when we'll be doing it that they won't forget how easy it is.

 

[welovedis]

When we went thru security @MCO there were things that I saw the repeatedly set off the scanners. Light-up sneakers of any kind were always removed, the security personnel told me that any shoe that has a hard metal in the sole will need to be removed, not that I could figure that out on my own, but that is what they said.

Barettes & headbands set it off lots of times along with foil-type stickers--you know sometimes your child is wearing a sticker or something, those set it off too. DS had his Medic Alert bracelet on & that set it off as well.

Just some things that we have noticed.

 

[~Czarina~]

When we flew with my brother at that age he was in a umbrella stroller and since there is no place to hide anything because they are so small they generally do not make the children get out of them. A guard will push him through. (This might be scarier or not depending on the child) We had very wonderful guards who since they were using the wand on my father (who has bullet remains in his arm and leg) they ran it over their arms AND his arm so he knew that we were not being hurt. His little huggie bear did have to go threw the scanner BUT the guards also worked with that. They explained that it was a special scanner just for him and it will not hurt him. It is the same thing as the scanner he just went through and Huggie will come out just fine and dandy. They even put him at the end so he could grab Huggie before he slammed into the metal wall like the bags do. We didn't even think to prepare my brother for it and he had no problem. I think that comes from his being the youngest and since my dad used to own a plane we were well prepared for whatever might happen. If you do tell the guards that it is his first time flying they can help you and him by explaining everything to him at his level. Good luck and have a great time!

 

[akarts]

Last August we were flying home to Philly from the world and my 2.5 year old set off the alarm (I don't know what it was...maybe the button on his shorts). He was wearing little sandals so they were just going to wand him. I was standing next to him and the man started yelling...Mrs. you need to step back, you need to step back. So of course that made my son cry. I was about 3 feet away almost in tears because they were making my son do the spread eagle stance while he cried for me. I kept telling him it was ok, but he was scared at that point and the crying continued. It would all have been fine if the guard would not have yelled at me...oh well, we're driving this year so I'm sure I'll be the one doing the yelling...lol!

 

[ahutton]

The last couple times I've traveled with my DD who is 3 1/2 I've just made sure we have lots of time to go through security and can take things one step at a time. As we get to each stage I explain to her what we are doing and she watches the people in front of us. When we get to the scanners we put Ellie the Elephant in a bucket along with her shoes and blanket, and I did the same with my shoes and purse and our bag. Then the car seat and stroller went in next. She slid her own bucket into the machine where I explained they were going to take a picture of it on a TV screen (she could see the monitor) and that we were going to walk through the doorway. We had dressed with as little metal on our clothes as possible and did not set the beeper off. Since she knew what was going on and I was explaining it was we went it seemed very normal to her, I talk her through many things through her day - steps in a process of completing something.

We've also had a bad experience where DH went through and beeped and we got pushed to send 2 1/2 yr old DD through and then I went with DD2 who was 8 months old and I beeped. We were very lucky that DD followed directions exactly and went to wait by the stroller while DH, then DD2 and finally I got hand wanded and cleared. I will never again send the kids through until one of the parents is through and clear - especially now they are old enough to both walk through but so young they may or may not always follow directions about waiting next to the stroller for Mommy and Daddy.

I understand and respect their need to do their job, but it is unreasonable to expect that a child who is barely old enough to speak in complete sentences can handle being on their own while being cleared themselves or while a parent is cleared.