<p>…and my S. who also was very difficult, way too busy…is a pretty good artist. The thing is that if the parents try to channel these energy forces into some activity that seem to calm them down, then it might develop into a great thing. Mine would be in toruble if he was not busy. I would just give him a pencil, peace of paper and put something in front and tell him to draw it. Then I would have few minutes break. We did the same with math. GrandS. seems to be the same. He is already amazing potter and loves to play couple instruments (he is only 12 y o). When he was a toddler and they visited us, he would break absolutely anything that was breakable in a house. Girls in our family seem to be on a much more quieter side.
None of the above will resolve an airplane issue, which might be a huge ear ache. If they happen to have ear infections, some of them can develop condition when they have an intolerable pain. My D. who is 24 y o still cannot fly without special ear plugs developed by NASA. They are very cheap and she has to buy them absolutely every time she is flying. She did not have a ear infection since she was 6 y o. the only time she was flying without discomfort was at 4 before she started having ear infections. The first time she was flying in pain (she was about 5 y o), she practically was screaming the whole 3 hours from Detroit to Mexico. I can imagine what people were thinking, but absolutely nothing was helping and I could not kick out my precious child out of the plane. Thank goodness nobody screamed at me for not doing anything, nobody could do anything at all and we knew that we will have to deal with the same situation going back home.</p>