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I also have been on both ends of the stick so to speak . I was on a flight to New york recently and this little boy was beng horrible to his mother he was fussy and he was about 4 or 5 and he was just plain rude and his mother was having a hard time . well I had finally had enough and put my head phones in and just listened to my book on tape and then he started the back seat kicking and that was it and I guess the stewardess saw him and so did his mother and I turned around and asked him why he chose to kick my seat rather than be a good boy and stop doing that ....I guess i must have frightened him because he shut up and was still the rest of the flight and his mother said thank you to me when we were unboarding ..Im so glad she was happy I was grumpy . LOL
I will be bringing my autistic screaming 4 year old onto a flight in the next few months when we move, he will certainly irritate some people, but that's part of life I suppose, I'm not sticking him in a car for four days straight.
Personally I think pushy adults on the planes are the more annoying of the bunch!
SherryCole, it seems a blessing that you have such predictions to easily avoid tiredness, hunger, ear infection, to just cancel a flight on a whim or whatever. Some people just need to get from point A to point B in life and aren't on their way to a holiday cruise.
Ahem, I have a 14-year-old daughter, and she cried on an airplane once. The reason it was only once was because I scheduled the flights around her. I didn't take her when she had an ear infection, I didn't take her on red eye flights, I didn't talk her when she wa tired or hungry. And no one has to deal with your wailing toddler, and quite frankly I find the attitude of your post to be one of the toddler running the parents life. Kids don't grow out of this behavior and no it is not a phase, it will just get worse. If you can't stop her now, what are you going to do when she is 12? 14? 16 and driving?
No one knows how their toddler is going to react if it's their first flight. What if their ears hurt? What if they're freaked out? What exactly is it you're going to do to discipline a 15 month old at 35,000 ft? What if you have to fly from Sydney to London? On a marathon flight like that every single one of your examples is possible, all in the same day.
A child is a toddler for exactly two years. How often do you fly with a toddler to be so prepared?
Ahem, I have a 14-year-old daughter, and she cried on an airplane once. The reason it was only once was because I scheduled the flights around her. I didn't take her when she had an ear infection, I didn't take her on red eye flights, I didn't talk her when she wa tired or hungry. And no one has to deal with your wailing toddler, and quite frankly I find the attitude of your post to be one of the toddler running the parents life. Kids don't grow out of this behavior and no it is not a phase, it will just get worse. If you can't stop her now, what are you going to do when she is 12? 14? 16 and driving?
Ahem, I have a 14-year-old daughter, and she cried on an airplane once. The reason it was only once was because I scheduled the flights around her. I didn't take her when she had an ear infection, I didn't take her on red eye flights, I didn't talk her when she wa tired or hungry. And no one has to deal with your wailing toddler, and quite frankly I find the attitude of your post to be one of the toddler running the parents life. Kids don't grow out of this behavior and no it is not a phase, it will just get worse. If you can't stop her now, what are you going to do when she is 12? 14? 16 and driving?
I'd love to know exactly how many times you flew with your child when young, and the length of the flights?
We were once on a 16 hour flight with our 14 month-old. He was very well behavior but developed explosive diarrhea mid-way. It was just plain awful, and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. I have been on a 12+ hour flight where there was a very little baby (not mine) who cried the whole time due to ear issues. Everything the parents tried didn't work.
The best thing to do with a crying or fussy baby is to have plenty of food to keep them satisfied. With ear problems, sucking on a bottle often helps. Things like stinky diapers are just a fact of life and no one should get upset about that. Most babies are only going to cry for a short while and then be satisfied and go to sleep if they have a bottle (or mom is nursing them). I don't find any of the baby noises/smells a big issue b/c typically, the noise will quieten down soon. I do find a crying baby at some point distressing but only in the sense of being a mom and wishing I could help.
What just slays me is the kids kicking the back of the seat and the parents doing nothing about it. I will not put up with it for more than about 30 seconds; if the parent hasn't said anything I will either ask the parent to please curb said child or I will ask the child him/herself to please stop kicking.
I am very nice about it but there is no reason for a child to do this -- and every reason for a parent to control it.
I have a friend who had two hyper kids who were very badly behaved even in the best of circumstances. Since they had allergies, she made sure both of them had Benedryl before and during long flights as it tended to make them sleepy. I have heard some parents say that Dramamine makes their children sleepy, so they give them Dramamine to help them sleep on a flight.
Not all children have problems or act out when flying. Mine didn't. However, if a child is experiencing ear problems, the pain is horrific (I have had that happen to me, so I know how painful it is). Those kind of things cannot be avoided, only possibly mitigated.
Bring headphones - the noise cancelling type. They are worth it if you do a lot of flying.
I'd love to know exactly how many times you flew with your child when young, and the length of the flights?
We were once on a 16 hour flight with our 14 month-old. He was very well behavior but developed explosive diarrhea mid-way. It was just plain awful, and there was absolutely nothing we could do about it. I have been on a 12+ hour flight where there was a very little baby (not mine) who cried the whole time due to ear issues. Everything the parents tried didn't work.
*it happens!
I flew with mine back and forth to Asia twice a year for the last 20 or so years. When they were toddlers that meant puddle jumping so they could get out and run a bit so that was over 24 hours door to door. As infants we took the most direct flight to minimize time but it was still 20ish hours.
There really are things you can do. Get the doctor to give you a prescription decongestant for potential ear issues (and test it out at home to make sure there are no side effects) and yes, even Benadryl or something similar if only to get the baby to sleep if all else fails. For toddlers bust out brand new toys they have never even seen before when they get fussy or bored and only then.
And practice by doing road trips. The problems are not the baby that cries during takeoff but rather the toddler whose parents are completely unprepared to distract, distract, distract.
Some things you just can't control. Yes children can act up during a flight, but 99% of people probably don't realize what a parent is doing to try and keep their child quiet. Once I flew with my daughter and her legs hit the back of the seat in front of her. I kept telling her to be careful, every time she touched th seat in front of her she was in essence kicking someone. She would stop, and start again. At that age there is only so much you can do on a plane. The woman got irratded turned around and said something to my daughter. Now I wish I had said something back, but was a wreck from trying to keep two kids entertained on a flight.
If people were more understanding I think it would benefit all. A few years later I flew with a small boy next to me, he wasn't very well behaved, his mom tried to keep him quiet. I told her I had children myself and can understand how challenging it is. It made the flight easier for both of us.
I flew with mine back and forth to Asia twice a year for the last 20 or so years. When they were toddlers that meant puddle jumping so they could get out and run a bit so that was over 24 hours door to door. As infants we took the most direct flight to minimize time but it was still 20ish hours.
There really are things you can do. Get the doctor to give you a prescription decongestant for potential ear issues (and test it out at home to make sure there are no side effects) and yes, even Benadryl or something similar if only to get the baby to sleep if all else fails. For toddlers bust out brand new toys they have never even seen before when they get fussy or bored and only then.
And practice by doing road trips. The problems are not the baby that cries during takeoff but rather the toddler whose parents are completely unprepared to distract, distract, distract.
Yes, yes, I know all of this, my point being small children are unpredictable even with the best planning.
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