Young children and airplane travel

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I am going to be flying with my 4-year-old son. We will have 2 flights when we leave and when we return. I am a little nervous about it because he has never flown before. I hope I can keep him quiet and calm during all of the flights and the airport layovers. I am going to pack activity and coloring books, colors, toy cars, candy, and card games like memory and go fish. I am also bringing my Nintendo DS with me and I bought a game that he can play on it. He really likes to watch me play on my DS and he likes to play video games when I let him, so I can use that at the airport and after take-off and before landing on the plane. I am also bringing a homeopathic relaxant/sleep aid just in case he gets a little jumpy and also to help him sleep when we get there in case he's a little too excited to go to sleep (we're getting in late at night). Anyway, I was just wondering how other peoples' experiences went with their children flying for the first time. Did you have doubts about your child behaving? What did you do to keep him or her occupied and behaving well? I'm also a little worried about getting him through security. Do you have any advice about getting young children to cooperate through the security process?