I often see families sitting across the aisle from each other on airplanes, but we do it different. Instead we prefer to sit in front of and behind each other on the same side of the airplane.

Let me convince you to should do the same.

Here is our seating arrangement of choice with 3 kids in 3 car seats on the plane. And if you choose to forego bringing a car seat on the plane for your child, I still think this set up is best.

The preferred location for a car seat on the plane is in a window seat.

So if you have 2 kids and 2 parents, you can put each child in their car seat in a window seat with the parent next to them in the middle seat.
If you have 3 kids and 2 adults, you can place the third child in a middle seat and move that parent into the aisle seat.
Disclaimer: not all airlines allow car seats in middle seats, so it is best to look up each airline’s policy on car seat placement. You can read THIS article too for more details!

Choosing to do this in front of and behind each other instead of across the aisle allows you to have more access to each other over the seat back. Instead of reaching across the aisle or communicating and passing snacks over another passenger, you can hand each other things without interrupting other passengers.

The key to this seating arrangement is to put the two car seats in the row BEHIND the rest of your group because inevitably kids will kick the seat in front of them. This means 2 of your 3 kids are seated behind your own group, instead of sitting behind strangers and kicking their seat.