Sooo am I just the best parent ever or are the others complete duds?

[Anonymous]

Nobody wants to chat with your kid on the plane

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Was on a 3-hour flight. Packed books, toys, cards and travel games to engage our preschooler and elementary schooler. Spent the rest of the time talking, reading quietly together, closing our eyes. Walked down the aisle a few times for bathroom trips, and each time, every single other family - kid on iPad, parent scrolling X or Instagram on their phone.

What gives?

(Ready for flames for being holier-than-thou, but seriously, what gives? Travel time is great for talking and engaging)

Ugh. I hate people with SO MUCH STUFF. Relaxing on planes is time honored. Why are you trying to turn a plane into a preschool? I’m keeping phones away from a much older kid. Brag when they’re older please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh we def make plane trips a screen time free for all and pump it up that way. Hey larla the flight to Turkey is ten hours and guess what you get to do the whole time!!!!

But we travel much farther than three hours.

(See that dumb humble brag? We can all play and it’s so silly. Stop.)

I don’t think you can accuse OP of being humble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been intentionally low screen in our house and we did a similar thing on planes. The result is that my kid has developed the skills to chat with people and entertain himself without a screen. My rule was that we had to be considerate of others and I never talked and narrated the whole time. I think that is just as annoying as the parents who let their kids on tablets without headphones.

We’ve been doing this since he was a toddler. Things that kept him occupied were window clings, lots of snacks, cheerio necklaces, and quiet toys like Wix sticks. As he got older we did more quiet card games, puzzles, and now in 2nd grade he mostly reads, listens to audio books, writes, and looks through the seat back stuff. Now that he is older he gets to watch TV if the plane has a screen, but most of his time is no screen. He’s done 16+ hour flights this way and fellow passengers have been commenting on how pleasant he is, so it can be done!

But again, my most important rule was not annoying anyone else on the plane. We are in very close quarters for hours.

Hm, we are also a low screen family (my kids are allowed to watch a little tv, they don't use other devices), but one of them has massive social anxiety and won't even look adults in the eye. Also, if you bring window clings, stickers, cheerio necklaces, etc. on an airplane, the flight attendants HAAAAATE you.

We are out of the toddler stage now, but I brought all that stuff and don’t understand why attendants would hate me. I’ve always received comments on DS being a great traveler. We never made a mess and always cleaned up one activity before starting another. Stickers were stuck on our own books and paper. What’s the problem?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been intentionally low screen in our house and we did a similar thing on planes. The result is that my kid has developed the skills to chat with people and entertain himself without a screen. My rule was that we had to be considerate of others and I never talked and narrated the whole time. I think that is just as annoying as the parents who let their kids on tablets without headphones.

We’ve been doing this since he was a toddler. Things that kept him occupied were window clings, lots of snacks, cheerio necklaces, and quiet toys like Wix sticks. As he got older we did more quiet card games, puzzles, and now in 2nd grade he mostly reads, listens to audio books, writes, and looks through the seat back stuff. Now that he is older he gets to watch TV if the plane has a screen, but most of his time is no screen. He’s done 16+ hour flights this way and fellow passengers have been commenting on how pleasant he is, so it can be done!

But again, my most important rule was not annoying anyone else on the plane. We are in very close quarters for hours.

Hm, we are also a low screen family (my kids are allowed to watch a little tv, they don't use other devices), but one of them has massive social anxiety and won't even look adults in the eye. Also, if you bring window clings, stickers, cheerio necklaces, etc. on an airplane, the flight attendants HAAAAATE you.

This. Can you imagine having to pick up the slobbery bits of cheerio left behind? Absolutely disgusting.

Slobbery bits of cheerio? I was traveling with a kid, not an infant or a dog.

[Anonymous]

You may win best mom for who brought activities. The moms of the iPad-viewing preschool kids may win best mom for kids being advanced readers or advanced in math. Not every kid on iPad is watching baby shark videos on loop and many are playing educational games. Even if only one of the kids doing educational and rest watching mindless, maybe that’s because kid “earned” it for winning his best violinist under 5 competition they are flying back from. Just STOP judging and if you keep trying to “win,” you set yourself up to lose as guarantee there is a mom more fabulous than you out there. Don’t go looking and be happy with your own self.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You may win best mom for who brought activities. The moms of the iPad-viewing preschool kids may win best mom for kids being advanced readers or advanced in math. Not every kid on iPad is watching baby shark videos on loop and many are playing educational games. Even if only one of the kids doing educational and rest watching mindless, maybe that’s because kid “earned” it for winning his best violinist under 5 competition they are flying back from. Just STOP judging and if you keep trying to “win,” you set yourself up to lose as guarantee there is a mom more fabulous than you out there. Don’t go looking and be happy with your own self.

You think iPad games make kids advanced in reading or math? LOL, good luck to your kids!