If you're going to fly with your kids please make them behave

[Anonymous]

I was recently on two long flights - 10 hours each and both had quite a few kids on board. I was actually amazed as I rarely heard a peep from any of the kids. Most of them must have slept most of the flights. That or the headphones / in seat movie/tv did the trick.

[Anonymous]

I'm a parent who has flown with my two kids since they were infants. It is indeed possible to teach even small children to behave on planes and not bother those around them. It takes a little advanced planning to ensure that you have activities that will engage your kids (and not electronic toys that annoy people with their noises), and it takes energy while you're on the flight to help keep them entertained. But that's a parent's job.

[Anonymous]

You know, I fly frequently, have done so all my life, and have done so with kids and without. I also eat at restaurants, shop at supermarkets, and generally inhabit public space.

I cannot think of one single instance that was egregious enough to stick in my memory of somebody else's kids bothering me enough that I had to speak to the parents. Either I live in a bubble, or there are a bunch of supersensitive grinches out there who just don't like kids. And I'm pretty sure it's not me.

[Anonymous]

Now that I have kids, I am very sympathetic to wiggly 3 year olds and crying babies. The parents feel worse than you and usually exhaust themselves trying to keep the kids quiet and busy. God bless the funny Gramma who plays peekaboo with the toddler in front of her, and the nice gentleman who gives up his seat so a family can sit two-by-two instead of seperately. You know what? Babies don't always behave and that's part of life, I'm sorry to disrupt your seamless child free existence, maybe you should sail around the world next time.
How else are families supposed to visit their cross coast relatives?
It beats smelly oversized men who smell like cheese and hog the armrest, women with too much perfume, people who clonk you on the head with their oversized bag, people who appear to be writing their memoir in the bathroom, drunks, and my favorite, the woman who hacks up her lungs the whole time she is sitting next to you and givers you her exotic cold germs...ah, air travel!

[Anonymous]

I agree with OP. Parents do something!!!!

[Anonymous]

Oh yea! That was me.

After I saw you be rude to the ticket lady and the coffee guy and the flight attendant.

I sat behind you and told my 3 year old - "i bet you can't kick it again, i bet you can't kick it again"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent who has flown with my two kids since they were infants. It is indeed possible to teach even small children to behave on planes and not bother those around them. It takes a little advanced planning to ensure that you have activities that will engage your kids (and not electronic toys that annoy people with their noises), and it takes energy while you're on the flight to help keep them entertained. But that's a parent's job.

My 2.5 yo has been on more than 20
RT flights, and except for one fussy time when he was 3 mos old, he's been very easy/good (knock on wood). I do think parents have a lot to do with how their kids act and should never allow seat kicking, etc. That said, I still cannot guarantee that my toddler won't have a meltdown or throw a tantrum on a plane at some point. While I can plan ahead, keep him from kicking, make him stay seated, etc, there's no good definitive way to make a kid stop screaming/crying instantly. Except maybe duct tape.

[Anonymous]

i am a very frequent flier and have been on both sides of this. it is really not that complicated. parents need to engage in their best efforts to keep things under control. non parents need to recognize that kids are people too and are entitled to use air travel, that no parent has 100 percent control of a child's behavior, and that reasonable allowances must be made. parents need to understand that certain things are completely unacceptable (seat kicking being the best example) and that people encountering such behavior have every right to be angry about it. tension is high on these issues because airlines have gotten so good at managing load factors that planes are now almost always full, so flying sucks generally for all

[Anonymous]

NP here. See, I've been on DCUM before asking for iPad app suggestions for my 2-yr-old for a long flight, and I was flamed for allowing my child *gasp* screen time, by OP no doubt. Just. Can't. Win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent who has flown with my two kids since they were infants. It is indeed possible to teach even small children to behave on planes and not bother those around them. It takes a little advanced planning to ensure that you have activities that will engage your kids (and not electronic toys that annoy people with their noises), and it takes energy while you're on the flight to help keep them entertained. But that's a parent's job.

My three young kids have been on about 50 flights between them and they are normally extremely well behaved. However, one flight when my daughter was 10 months old, she just cried and cried. We really don't know why, we tried absolutely every thing we could think of to get her to stop crying, but she just wouldn't. I'm sure the OP hates me, and that you think that I'm not doing a parent's job. But 3 kids, 50 flights, only one was bad, so I don't think it's a problem with what we are doing or that DH and I are inherently terrible at parenting on a plane or should never take another flight. But if you were on that 2009 flight from Orlando to DCA you probably think those things about us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i am a very frequent flier and have been on both sides of this. it is really not that complicated. parents need to engage in their best efforts to keep things under control. non parents need to recognize that kids are people too and are entitled to use air travel, that no parent has 100 percent control of a child's behavior, and that reasonable allowances must be made. parents need to understand that certain things are completely unacceptable (seat kicking being the best example) and that people encountering such behavior have every right to be angry about it. tension is high on these issues because airlines have gotten so good at managing load factors that planes are now almost always full, so flying sucks generally for all

+1

My DS has flown to Europe, Asia, and to the west coast in the two years since he was born, and some flights were great and some were not so great. He's actually been the best in business/first class, maybe because there's more room and it's not as stressful (for everyone but me, as I was desperately praying that he would not aggravate our fellow passengers). I am a frequent flyer for work and I know how it feels to get on a plane and see that you're sitting next to a baby when all you want to do is sleep, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes. Flying isn't fun for any of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i am a very frequent flier and have been on both sides of this. it is really not that complicated. parents need to engage in their best efforts to keep things under control. non parents need to recognize that kids are people too and are entitled to use air travel, that no parent has 100 percent control of a child's behavior, and that reasonable allowances must be made. parents need to understand that certain things are completely unacceptable (seat kicking being the best example) and that people encountering such behavior have every right to be angry about it. tension is high on these issues because airlines have gotten so good at managing load factors that planes are now almost always full, so flying sucks generally for all

Wow! A rational poster on DCUM!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i am a very frequent flier and have been on both sides of this. it is really not that complicated. parents need to engage in their best efforts to keep things under control. non parents need to recognize that kids are people too and are entitled to use air travel, that no parent has 100 percent control of a child's behavior, and that reasonable allowances must be made. parents need to understand that certain things are completely unacceptable (seat kicking being the best example) and that people encountering such behavior have every right to be angry about it. tension is high on these issues because airlines have gotten so good at managing load factors that planes are now almost always full, so flying sucks generally for all

+1

My DS has flown to Europe, Asia, and to the west coast in the two years since he was born, and some flights were great and some were not so great. He's actually been the best in business/first class, maybe because there's more room and it's not as stressful (for everyone but me, as I was desperately praying that he would not aggravate our fellow passengers). I am a frequent flyer for work and I know how it feels to get on a plane and see that you're sitting next to a baby when all you want to do is sleep, but hey, that's how it goes sometimes. Flying isn't fun for any of us.

I was just going to say that! My kids have been the best behaved while in business class because a) the seat ahead of you is too far away to kick and b) there so much more room for the kids to play.

I've flown many times with my kids, the most difficult time being when the kids are between 1-3 years old. It's tough trying to keep your kid's feet from kicking the seat in front of you, especially when your child's legs are too short to bend over the edge of the seat and thus stick straight out. We've sat there holding our kids' legs to keep them from kicking for the entire flight. lol However, I remember one notoriously horrible flight from Europe to the U.S. on an incredibly cramped plane. My baby was uncomfortable and crying, and nothing we could do except stand up and rock her would work. The aisles were full, so we went to the middle area where the flight crew hung out. Even though my baby had stopped crying by then, I was told to sit back down because we were "too close to business class and would disturb them." At that point, I just sat down as told and let my baby scream; I think I cried as well. We were two rows from business class, by the way, so I'm sure the screaming bothered them anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a parent who has flown with my two kids since they were infants. It is indeed possible to teach even small children to behave on planes and not bother those around them. It takes a little advanced planning to ensure that you have activities that will engage your kids (and not electronic toys that annoy people with their noises), and it takes energy while you're on the flight to help keep them entertained. But that's a parent's job.

Yes. Be prepared with many activities and snacks, clear about limits, and engage/distract. Sure, I miss the days of getting on a night flight with a magazine and a drink and then putting on my eyemask for 5 hours. We've had a few flights that have been a lot of work. On an awful flight where DC2 cried and cried, at least people could see we were trying to calm the kid down. And that is what I find frustrating when I travel. The parents who are oblivious to what their kids are doing or see it and don't give a flying @$%! that their kids are annoying others.

More than once, we have shared our activities and engaged with random children who were going a little nuts. On one flight, two flight attendants came by to thank me for it, and on another a fellow passenger bought me a drink!

[Anonymous]

Its public transportation. Just like Metro, can't complain when you have an option to walk or drive. You should fly private if kids are a problem for you.