Originally Posted by emma69

I will agree with all but the first - if you are a two adult travelling party, one should get on during the pre-boarding to get all the stuff sorted - carry ons up and out of the way, or under and out of the way, toys, books, snacks, bottles, etc. extracted and stashed in seat pockets, etc. and the second adult can board with the kids later on. However, for a single parent, I would still think getting on early, getting everyone settled, doing the last minute nip to the loo, etc etc. is better than later. I've watched parents whose carry on has to be separated from them and placed rows back play musical chairs for the entire flight getting things down, putting things up etc. and children escaping while they do this (in the particular instance I recall, it was a bulkhead, so no space for under seat storage, and her bag was about 10 rows back, she was travelling with 3 children under 5 (which, as an aside, I think is risky, what would she have done in an emergency situation [answer pre determined by me, I would get the kid beside me out in an emergency])

You also avoid the issue of people potentially seat poaching if you are on and in first.