If you have ever flown with a toddler you know how much of a challenge it can be. We just wrapped up our second Walt Disney World vacation with our son, Graysen, who is 2 1/2 years old. Our first trip last November was a bit of a challenge so we decided to try something new this year, the CARES harness by Kids Fly Safe.
On our first flight, we were paranoid about the safety of our child and made sure we paid for a seat instead of having him be a lap child. Once that decision was made the next challenge, car seat or no car seat. Again, being the paranoid parents that we are we choose to take the car seat and use it on the airplane. The seat was great once we got it installed, but the challenge of hauling it through the airport and carrying it through the narrow plane isle I was dreading the flight back.
So this brings us to the CARES harness. CARES is a safety harness designed specifically for aviation use and it's the only harness approved by the Federal Aviation Administration It's a simple, effective harness that fits easily inside a backpack and eliminates all the headaches of using the car seat at the airport.
Installation is a breeze and instead of rewriting the instruction manual here's the video instructions straight from the FAA.
After using the harness ourselves, we highly recommend it for parents with toddlers. It kept our child restrained and the compact size made the airport and boarding process so much easier. It installs and packs up within a minute and knowing that our child was safe in the event of some rough air gave us peace of mind.
The CARES harness can be bought from a number of retailers, but we found that buybuyBaby was the cheapest after using the 20% off coupon that you receive for joining their offer mailing list (Bed Bath & Beyond coupons will work as well).
You can find more information on the CARES harness by visiting KidsFlySafe.com