Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
More on Flying with Kids
Lisa Belkin of the NYT, whose writing I admire greatly, has a nice post on kids on planes. Thought fellow parents might like to read.
The comments are interesting--mostly sympathetic, with a few crabs thrown in who obviously hate kids all around, so no surprise they hate them on planes, too.
The most cogent remark about the situation is from a commenter who puts it thusly:
"You don’t realize how peaceful flight travel is, even when someone else is screaming, until you fly half a dozen flights with your own kids."
It reminded me of a funny encounter I had on our last flight with the munchkin. I sat down in an aisle seat next to a business traveler, Nolan in my lap, while Brandon installed the carseat in the seat next to his. The man looked at me with such a pained expression on his face, and I said "Don't worry, the kid is going over there." He said, "Oh, good. I mean, I have nothing against kids, but I've had a very long day." I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Yeah. You and me both." Which totally shut him up.
Because let's face it--it's always easier to have to listen to a crying, upset, unhappy child than it is to be the parent that has to deal with that child. I don't care where--grocery store, bus, mall, park, wherever. You were a teething child once too, so pay your Mom back for having to deal with your infant bullshit and try not to hate too much. That is all.
The comments are interesting--mostly sympathetic, with a few crabs thrown in who obviously hate kids all around, so no surprise they hate them on planes, too.
The most cogent remark about the situation is from a commenter who puts it thusly:
"You don’t realize how peaceful flight travel is, even when someone else is screaming, until you fly half a dozen flights with your own kids."
It reminded me of a funny encounter I had on our last flight with the munchkin. I sat down in an aisle seat next to a business traveler, Nolan in my lap, while Brandon installed the carseat in the seat next to his. The man looked at me with such a pained expression on his face, and I said "Don't worry, the kid is going over there." He said, "Oh, good. I mean, I have nothing against kids, but I've had a very long day." I looked him straight in the eye and said, "Yeah. You and me both." Which totally shut him up.
Because let's face it--it's always easier to have to listen to a crying, upset, unhappy child than it is to be the parent that has to deal with that child. I don't care where--grocery store, bus, mall, park, wherever. You were a teething child once too, so pay your Mom back for having to deal with your infant bullshit and try not to hate too much. That is all.
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