Any parent can tell you that children are preternaturally gifted when it comes to making small objects disappear. Spoiler: It’s up their nose, and yes, you have to go to the emergency room right now. A french airline is looking to channel your child’s natural propensity for lies and theft into a more useful, less dangerous, field, the study of magic. 

One of the many entertainment programmes offered to proto-humans onboard Air France flights is a series of magic tutorials that teach them how to use objects found in their “games kit” to perform simple magic tricks. The announcement from Air France doesn’t give any details as to what kind of tricks are available other than to say they were designed by an air steward who moonlights as a magician, but the French do have a notoriously laissez faire attitude towards child safety laws – they let them drink wine and everything – so if little Timmy starts eating razor blades or sawing his sister in half, at least you can be comfortable in the knowledge that he’ll likely end up performing at The Magic Castle one day.

As it is, your kid probably has twenty different electronic devices vying for their attention at all times, but the terrible quality of in-flight wi-fi means a long-haul flight is likely your only chance to break that Fortnite addiction and teach them a thing or two about sleight-of-hand.

Might I suggest you start with a french drop?