There is nothing indecent about a baby eating a meal as Mother Nature intended it. BTDT. Endured stares and fingers shaken at me and was given a lot of unsolicited advice about how bottles were superior. Breastfeeding moms get from me (there are moms who couldnāt breastfeed for one or another reason - they are not ālesserā moms because of that).
That said, I would not be happy sitting next to a guy doing something privately withā¦ ahemā¦ his private body part.
We were recently on a 6 hour flight and a toddler shriek/cried pretty much from takeoff to landing. The parent was trying EVERYTHING. The poor kid was suffering from something (guessing ear pain) and was inconsolable. We couldnāt believe he didnāt cry himself to sleep.
It didnāt help that the climate control in the plane was broken and everyone was wearing everything they had with them to survive the cold. I donāt think anyone was blaming anyone else ā we were just coveting the down coats of anyone who had one!
My solo, long, transatlantic flights with a baby and a toddler (youth makes you a special brand of crazy), taught me that most humans are in essence good. Also taught me to not stereotype individuals. On one particular flight, I was crestfallen to see that our seat neighbor was a young male (I preferred the maternal, or grandmotherly types that were always super helpful). This young man (a newly minted university professor from Iran) entertained my toddler for the whole 12 hour flight. He asked for my email and sent me PDFs of the digital art they created together. I am still forever grateful for the kindness and generosity of this outstanding human being that had absolutely no obligation to help me.
I was on a flight and there was a gentleman in the row in front of me watching youtube on his phone with no headphonesā¦sorry, but the rest of us donāt want to hear what youāre watching!
Babies cry, but maybe the plane is NOT the time to āferberizeā your baby!
Thatās what I always tried to do when we flew with our kids. Was it foolproof? No, but having stuff to do did help. I have been on planes where there have been kids who have been allowed (or their parents arenāt doing anything to stop it) to run amok and bother other passengers. That isnāt good. I do get that sometimes, life happens and parents do try their best. But, I donāt think its safe to let kids run up and down the aisles and I donāt think itās nice for them to bother other passengers.
I do agree that kids arenāt even the worst on the flight. No one wants to sit next to another adult who talks your ear off the entire flight! Does anyone else remember that scene in Planes Trains and Automobiles?
We were once on the runway for several hours, before the flight got totally postponed til the next day . Our kids were not with us, but lots of restless little ones (including some with parents that had not brought extra foodā¦ what the heck?). Anyway, a resourceful fellow got a bunch of them playing a game. Heād tap out a noise pattern, then they all needed to imitate. Now I know this probably drove some of the other folks nuts, but I really got a kick out of the playful mood.