I would advise against flying with your kids at such low hours. It’s not that you are not qualified to fly, it’s that flying with your kids will introduce a whole new stress level into the experience and might create a dangerous situation where it usually wouldn’t be. Flying with your wife/friends thou should be ok.
Step 1: fly with your wife 2-3 times
Step 2: let an instructor(or someone else you trust) fly with you and one of the kids in the backseat
Step 3: do the same with the other kid
Then you will see their reactions, you will probably notice that they will act the same way as when riding in the car. This will take away the anxiety of the “first flight”. If your wife is comfortable, proceed to step 4.
Step 4: fly with the family
(My wife is a very confident flyer and we recently took our 4-month old kid up flying for ten minutes. He was a bit irritated by the ear protection that he needed to wear but after a couple of minutes of engine noise he fell asleep. He was not traumatized.)
i was going to say, the problem most probably is not the kids, they will fall asleep within 15 minutes.
But there really is no point in making a ctorate out of this, apart from the fact that MedEwok already has done that 
But to be serious, in the end the whole thing is a question of confidence. Somehow I sense that this is a big problem in this case and I wonder why. MedEwok, you have passed your checkride, which means your instructors and your exaiminer were comfortable to let you exercise the privileges of a commander within the rights of a PPL. They would not have done it if they thought you needed more training.
If you lack confidence, it will radiate on those who fly with you. So you need to sort this out first. Go fly as much as you can. Then take your wife and make it a positive experience for both of you. She has to sense that you are comfortable and confident on board, not constantly worrying about something or the other. And there really should not be a reason for that either. You are an intelligent human being, you have achieved one of the worlds more complex professions and a pilots license. Flying a C172 is quite uncomplex in comparison to an appendix op, don’t you think?
Preparation is fine but one can overprepare and with it loose confidence. And I am afraid, in some cases forums do not help, on the opposite. You will get encouragement but also people who will kill confidence.
You are a licensed PPL. You have been given command of airplanes you have passed tests on. Apply it
Mooney_Driver wrote:
… in the end the whole thing is a question of confidence. […]
If you lack confidence, it will radiate on those who fly with you.
I could not agree more.I will take it one step beyond: if the kids sense their mum is nervous, they will also get nervous.
I have three kids, oldest now 12, and have been flying with them since weeks old. By far the biggest factor is mum: if she is relaxed, then you have sorted 90% of the problem. If not: then you will have problems: they do not know what is going on, but if mum is nervous then something wrong must be going on. Same thing when flying with other relatives (brother/sister, nephews…)
The little one must be next to or held by mum. I have always had mum hold the infant with an airline style kangaroo belt, or a forward-looking car seats at the back. For 3YO and up I have used booster seats at the front or the back, making sure there is no flight control interference.
So I agree with all of those that say mum is first step. As to the type of preparation/briefing, it depends very much on the person, but there is nothing rational in fear
of flying hence I believe a basic safety briefing is the safest bet. All the additional info may help down the line, but it will be easier to know and decide as you get more experience flying together, not before. The extra info may bring more unhelpful irrational fears.
Have fun! As I said in the other thread, my thrill is flying with friends and family!
Couldn’t agree more with Mooney and Antonio.
Many thanks for everyone’s input, it is too annoying to quote everyone’s posts when typing on the phone as I do right now, but let’s just say that every post helped so far, even those I don’t agree with.
I am aware of the fact that I may be overcomplicating things, it is what I do
And as some of you spotted my wife is not making this easier for me, BUT she already has agreed to the planned flights as outlined in the first post. She specifically asked me to “get on that pilot forum you always talk about and ask how we can best carry the kids along”
I also agree with Mooney_driver that confidence is important. Mostly in yourself, but also the outward appearance of confidence.
I must say that my confidence has increased a lot after my first flight with a passenger last week, who was very very satisfied and also found me to be cool, calm and in command. So much in fact that he didn’t worry about a botched touch&go where I realised in an unpleasant way that I still need more currency. The second landing then turned out just fine.
My work schedule for the upcoming months also looks good for a lot more flights than previously, so weather permitting my currency will increase.
Then I will see if I can convince my wife to have my mother in law babysit the children at the airport while I take my wife up for a spin…sounds like a plan
Nothing wrong with over-analysing things.
The world is full of “live and let live” people who under-analyse things and most of them come to grief sooner or later
Under-analysis is not a good idea if you are involved in any activity which has a significant downside and where there isn’t somebody around who will pull the chestnuts out of the fire for you.
And as some of you spotted my wife is not making this easier for me, BUT she already has agreed to the planned flights as outlined in the first post. She specifically asked me to “get on that pilot forum you always talk about and ask how we can best carry the kids along”
Perfect
