How do you get a child through the airport? Ask this question, says parenting influencer

One parent suggests letting children lead the way in airports. Photo / 123rf

A video of a father sharing his parenting tactic at the airport has gone viral with travellers and parents divided over whether the approach is bothersome or brilliant.

American author and entrepreneur Scott Donnell has shared dozens of videos about parenting with his 128,000 Instagram followers.

However, a recent tip quickly racked up more than 2.7 million views as travellers debated its pros and cons.

In the video, titled ‘let kids lead the way’, Donnell explained that, when they go to the airport with their four children, they regularly ask them the same question: ‘What’s next?’

“We’ll show up at the airport with all our bags and we go, ‘Hey what do we do? Where do we go?’” he said, recounting what seems to be a recent experience with his 5-year-old son, Sawyer.

Initially, Sawyer says he doesn’t know but then asks what airline they are flying with. Donnell tells him Southwest and after they locate the counter, Sawyer walks up to the employee and says: “We have to take a flight”.

Smiling back at him, the woman asks for his name and ID, which Donnell hands his child, who checks them in and gets the tickets.

“We’re all sitting there like ‘what’s next?’”, Donnell explains, saying the kids now have to locate TSA.

They take the family through the line and learn how to put their belongings on the conveyor belt. Once through security, the parents ask the five-year-old ‘what’s next?’ and ask where the plane is.

“So he has to look at the card, figure out which gate it is and find the gate and take us there,” he said.

According to Donnell, this approach helps children become more independent and parents to be less burdened.

“The more you do things with your kids instead of for them, the more they’re gonna learn these things on their own,” he said, adding that this “frees you up as a parent”.

The video received many comments; many applauded the father and others criticised the approach, suggesting it would be inconvenient for fellow travellers.

“The people behind you must be thrilled!!!” one person joked. “Meanwhile, everyone around you is fuming” another wrote.

Yet, one person said it was an example of “active, involved parenting” and people should ignore anyone who complains about it.

“Anyone who has a problem with a parent taking this kind of responsibility to teach their kids in the public sphere probably has a problem with kids existing in the world in general,” they wrote.

“Trust me, you’d much rather be dealing with this guy’s kid in 15 years than the iPad kid being dragged around the airport on a leash by his parents,” they added.

Several people asked how much time this added to the airport process and others suggested it would likely only add a few minutes as the parents were there to help if kids got stuck.

One person suggested this was unnecessary as kids learn by simply watching their parents, but another countered that kids “go on autopilot” if they aren’t required to problem solve and can just follow along.

“You learn more by doing than by watching,” another pointed out.

SouthWest Airlines even jumped into the comments, writing: “We’re following Sawyer’s lead” while a woman joked she needed to take this approach with her husband.