Southwest kicks mom, cranky kid off flight

[SWTXBelle]

I've seen them - forget the name - but yes, it's brilliant.

One big reason why I drove cross-country rather than fly when the boys were little is that it is simply too much stress to fly with two (or one, come to that) toddlers. In my car, I can pull over when I need to, control the temp., get food when I need to, and if they have a meltdown or two all I have to do is turn up the radio. The dvd player in my car meant that if I left at night, the boys would sleep through the night and be entertained by movies during the day.
My girls (who are 9 and 11 yrs. older than the boys) were big fans of headphones. Ah, the good old days . . .

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I'm certainly not minimizing inconsiderate parents because I see plenty of that myself, but if you consider how little people seem to consider the presence of other people when they have loud conversations on their cell phones, etc, it's really no surprise that they regard other people as unimportant when it comes to how their kids act.

The last time I flew a few months ago, I was treated to the guy next to me's entire cellphone conversation about his broken toilet. I mean at a louder volume that my own conversation with my husband next to me. I'm sure he isn't going to magically transform into a considerate passenger when he has kids.

I've never been on a flight where someone was talking on their cell phone. Isn't that still not allowed in the US?

Gawd I would go absolute BONKERS if I had to listen to someone's conversation the ENTIRE way on a flight. I hope the airlines never change that no cell phone rule!

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I've never been on a flight where someone was talking on their cell phone. Isn't that still not allowed in the US?

Gawd I would go absolute BONKERS if I had to listen to someone's conversation the ENTIRE way on a flight. I hope the airlines never change that no cell phone rule!

Oh, sorry, I guess I said that in a misleading way. It was before the actual flight. I guess I was free associating with air travel.

I suppose I should be thankful that it didn't go on the whole flight. It was just really strange because it seems to go on a long-ish time, and it was really loud and about stuff that none of us having to listen to it really wanted to be listening to. I could probably still give a play by play.

[Gusteau]

I was on a flight over the summer where a woman left her baby (I'm talking less than 1 year old) with random strangers while she took her toddler to the rest room. This happened at least three times during the flight and the baby cried hysterically with each new stranger he was entrusted to.

First of all, why would you trust the random man in 24B with you child? WHY!? I get that he's not going anywhere at 30,000 feet but how do you know he isn't a psycho child punter?!

Second of all, why would you accept a stranger's child, I wouldn't want that responsibility!

[AGDee]

We had one rough flight when my son was 3. We went to Disney World and he was fine on the way down. We had toys, books, etc. at the ready for him and he didn't really need them on the way to Florida. However, while at Disney World, he got really scared on one ride and was too terrified to ride anything else the rest of the trip. We didn't realize this fear was going to generalize to the flight since he had done fine on the way down there. We had to sit apart so I was with my daughter and my ex-husband (we were married then) was sitting a few rows behind with my son. As we were preparing for take off, I hear my lil guy saying (loudly, but not yelling, but definitely with fear in his voice) "Hold me Daddy, hold me!" "Hold me Daddy, Hold me!" My ex did his best with calming him down and once we were up in the air, he was fine, but for a few minutes, he was clearly terrified. We felt awful for the people around us and for him. So, I do have some sympathy for some of those situations.

Flying is a little different too than the movies or a restaurant where you can remove the kid from the situation. There isn't a whole lot you can do in a plane, beyond firm reprimands and threats. It really depends on the age of the kid. There are things you can bring along to try to keep them occupied/distracted, but those things don't work every single time, especially if they are afraid or not feeling well. It's a case by case type of thing to me...

[agzg]

I think there's a big difference between kids who are scared or cry during take-off and landing because their ears are popping and kids that are just plain misbehaving. I have a lot of ear/inner ear problems, get a lot of ear infections, and whatnot, so when the plane is taking off/landing I feel like screaming, too.

It's when the plane is in flight or somehow stationary that misbehaving kids bug me. There was a huge group of kids from toddlers to teenagers on the flight back from Paris when my dad and I went last and it was AWFUL. Every single one of those kids was a loud, annoying jerk of a kid. They also left trash all over the seats and floor. I might have been able to excuse the younger kids but the teenagers were just as bad, maybe even worse! It was disappointing because our flight to Paris was actually pretty relaxing (gotta love those overnight flights!). The fact that we were trapped with them for almost 8 hours just made things worse.

There's a big difference between that and the toddler that cried twice on a flight, once during take off, and once during landing.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by agzg

I think there's a big difference between kids who are scared or cry during take-off and landing because their ears are popping. I have a lot of ear/inner ear problems, get a lot of ear infections, and whatnot, so when the plane is taking off/landing I feel like screaming, too.

I'll agree with this (and Munchkin's point). Although it's incredibly annoying to spend the whole flight listening to kids screaming, I can understand if the kid's scared or something like that. I would just hope that the parents would try to quiet the child down during the flight. It doesn't need to be a "Hey kid, shut up!" but more of a "It's ok, the plane is safe and everything is going to be ok."

When my parents were taking my sister and I on a plane for the first time (we were visiting family in California), they took us to the airport to watch the planes take off. I was a pretty laid back kid, but I think it helped to see the planes taking off and landing and hearing all the sounds. Flying can be a stressful experience for a kid, from the long waits in line to the plane ride itself.

I often wonder why more parents don't do what my parents did, if it's feasible, at least to increase the comfort level a little. If there's one thing I learned from teaching preschool and toddler-age kids throughout college, it's that you can calm a kid's nerves a lot by giving him or her familiarity with a new place.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

I'll agree with this (and Munchkin's point). Although it's incredibly annoying to spend the whole flight listening to kids screaming, I can understand if the kid's scared or something like that. I would just hope that the parents would try to quiet the child down during the flight. It doesn't need to be a "Hey kid, shut up!" but more of a "It's ok, the plane is safe and everything is going to be ok."

Right. I get that kids may be scared or having problems with their ears, but I have seriously seen parents not even attempt to quiet their kids down or see what's going on with them.

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by OTW

I was very nervous when we took the 4 year old to Michigan last summer. I read everything I could about how to prevent kid meltdowns on a flight, especially since we were flying HNL-LAX, LAX-ATL, and ATL-DTW. He's very talkative, so whenever we boarded a flight, we'd get dirty looks from people who I could tell were silently praying that they weren't sitting near us.

This reminds me of when the nephew took his first flight (to my college graduation). My sister said that L was sooo excited about flying, and then he walked out to the tarmac. My family lives in a small town with a small airport where you have to walk out from the airport to the plane, so it was really loud. He was screaming BLOODY MURDER. "No! I'm not getting in that thing! You can't make me! I'll die in that airpwane!" HE WAS 3. My sister had to pick him up, throw him over her shoulder, and haul him into the plane.

As soon as L got into the plane, he sat down and went to sleep. Now he loves to fly. So, if a kid is chatty/screamy when he's about to board, there's a good chance that he will be quiet in the plane.

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Right. I get that kids may be scared or having problems with their ears, but I have seriously seen parents not even attempt to quiet their kids down or see what's going on with them.

Ditto. Scared kids don't scream for 5 hours.

[AOII Angel]

And scared kids don't kick the back of chairs for 5 hours...

[srmom]

33girl, that video of the cartoon was hilarious - that was one of our methods of getting the kids to stop crying - when they'd start, we'd start in unison, then they'd stop- worked like a charm. I think they thought we were nuts!

We were lucky that our kids were troupers on planes, but one time, my youngest got violently ill on the plane- like The Exorcist green pea soup sick. He cried and cried and puked and puked, it ranks up there as one of the worst experiences of my life! I felt terrible for him, for the passengers around us, and for myself - WHAAH, I wanted to cry, but I did everything I could to help the situation, and luckily, the folks nearby felt so sorry for us that they were nice about it.

Ever since then, I've had alot more patience for families travelling with kids.

[AGDee]

I laugh about the "Hold me daddy, hold me!" incident now. He had such a cute voice then.. in 3 year old speak it was more like "Hole me Doddy, Hole me!" such a cutie pie.

[sigmadiva]

My worst flight? Being on a small commuter plane (20 rows, 2 seats down one side, 1 seat down the other) from NJ to Montreal and a loud, misbehaving 2-yr old in the back of the plane. How bad was this kid? The flight attendant asked the parents over the loud speaker to control their kid. A sigh a relief was had by all....

I've been on larger planes with bad kids, but being on a smaller one is seems far worse!

[rhoyaltempest]

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

LOL! Now that's funny!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seriously, the airlines need to have planes with play areas during special times of the day and charge a gajillion dollars for these flights than putting them on biz class flights with travel pros.

When I went on flight, the 5 y/o pee'd in the seat behind me. Kids don't fear adults anymore. When I was little I was more fearful of the ass whoopin' I'd have gotten from my mom, than what any other adult would've given me, if she found out I acted ugly...

Anyhow, I'm amused by kids & I can get them to say things that have their parents laughing hysterically... Like, 33girl's post...

That's because many parents don't discipline like they should anymore. They are too busy befriending their children, making deals, and negotiating like their children pay rent or something. All my mom had to do was give me "the look" and the "tight lip" and I calmed my butt right on down.

Please! Let's bring back "real" parenting. That's all I have to say. And we wonder why many of our children are out of control?