I originally wrote this post a few years ago involving parents being pressured by society to give out “airplane goodie bags” to placate other passengers on their flights. The idea has come back in the news thanks to an op-ed in the New York Times, so I have updated the post and thought it was worth re-running.
Awhile ago, I read a story that involved a family preparing to take a flight with a small infant. Knowing the unpredictability of flying with a very young infant, and wanting to make a good impression on nearby passengers, the mom made an airplane goodie bag to give out.
The airplane goodie bag contained ear plugs, Junior Mints, and Rolos.
I first saw the story on Facebook, but then a few months later I also saw it make its way to various travel blogs as well, and people’s comments were generally in favor of the idea.
Are airplane goodie bags a good idea?
Okay I hate to be “that guy”, but is this really what we’ve come to? I totally understand the sentiment and I can’t fault this mom for doing what she could to try and make their family’s flight as comfortable and pleasant as possible, but I don’t think making up airplane goody bags is something that we should encourage parents to do.
I’ve also been on flights with young kids, and I know that it is not pleasant to listen to an infant cry and/or scream for what seems like forever on a plane. I’ve been on both sides of that. When it’s not your kid, it is annoying, yes – I totally get that. When it IS your kid, it’s JUST as annoying, PLUS you feel the added stress of trying to do everything you can to fix the problem.
When my oldest daughter was about 2 years old, we flew on an evening flight from Cincinnati to Salt Lake City via Houston. We left Houston about 10pm, and for much of the flight to SLC, my (by this time quite over-tired) daughter cried and screamed off and on, and literally nothing we tried to do to console her seemed to work. Finally, about an hour before we landed, she finally drifted off to sleep.
As we landed at about midnight (2 a.m. our time), the combination of the change in cabin pressure, the jolt of the actual landing, and the lights going on as we taxied woke her up and this time she had REALLY had it. Her loud wails seemed to fill the cabin and again, NOTHING we tried seemed to work. Naturally, we were in literally the last row of the airplane, and so we had to wait for everyone else to get up, get their carry-ons, and exit the aircraft before we could leave. And of course, the whole time, my daughter was wailing and obviously uncomfortable.
What to do about it?
Why do I bring this story up? Just to mention that this is life! This is part of living in a society! I totally agree with Rebecca Dube’s take on the matter on Today.com. She mentions the fact that dealing with kids crying (or any other unpleasantness) is just part of the social contract.
Some of my favorite quotes from that article:
…a dangerous trend: People apologizing, or being made to feel they should apologize, for having children.
…parents have a responsibility here. I’ll do everything I can to stop my baby from crying on a plane. Trust me, I hate that sound even more than you do — plus it’s four inches from my ears. When all my tricks fail, I will walk him up and down the aisles, bouncing and humming. If you make eye contact with me, I’ll give you the “So sorry, what can you do?” apologetic smile, and you give me the “It’s OK, hang in there” sympathetic look. It’s called a social contract, people. If instead you roll your eyes or give me a nasty glare, then you are breaking the contract.
To the child-free: I fully understand that not everyone finds my little rugrats as delightful as I do. You don’t have to love us. But you do have to tolerate us and treat us with basic human respect, even if I don’t give you candy.
Heather Havrilesky had a good rebuttal to the NY Times op-ed on airplane goodie bags in the New York Magazine as well.
But it’s NICE!
Well, yes, it is NICE. It would also be NICE if I got M&Ms every time I used the bathroom, but I don’t EXPECT it! I worry about a dangerous precedent we start, when we ask young mothers (almost by definition the people on the earth with the LEAST amount of free time) to start catering to the needs of random strangers!
Airplane travel is inherently stressful. Some people are nervous or fearful, there’s all the waiting, the unknowns from those not doing it very often, and that’s not to mention the fact that all the while, you’re trapped in a metal tube with strangers, with no way to escape!
Let’s all try to remember to be extra kind to others, and give other passengers the benefit of the doubt, even when they tell you that “you’re the type of person that shouldn’t have children”
What do you think? What should parents flying with young children do?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
People make a choice to have children. They do not get any special rights or privileges from me, eg I will not hold the door for them or whatever. You’re not entitled to more than others just because you have children.
You were a child once yourself you know…
I find myself (guiltily) drawn to your blog like some people are drawn to gawk at a horrible car accident. I feel rather ashamed every time I click on your cartoon plane picture, yet I still do it.
Why? I think it’s because I get some sense of wonder out of reading the thoughts of someone I disagree with literally 100% of the time. Dan, you are my doppelganger, my complete opposite; I never thought I could find someone where I disagree with literally everything they write. With every other human being I’ve ever encountered, I can find some kind of common ground. It’s both fascinating and existentially terrifying. I almost want to meet you in real life to see if there is some black hole-like reaction where we cancel each others’ existence out.
Exactly! I shouldn’t have to deal with the screaming child of someone else on a crowded plane or in a quiet theatre. That’s just bull. It’s not “part of social interaction” — it’s parents acting as if their child is some special snowflake and not parenting, being considerate of others, or even having good manners. I loathe parents who just let their children do anything they want and don’t care if it bothers others.
While I do agree that parents shouldn’t just “let their children do anything”, I’m not sure what you’re suggesting parents do on a crowded plane. I mean in a quiet theater sure, they could always go out. It’s a little harder to leave a crowded plane 🙂
Ok then, I guess we should all have an expectation of not being inconvenienced in the slightest by you. So if you have a cold, I’d better not hear you cough or sneeze, etc. Wow, talk about out of touch. I guess it’s a good thing common courtesy was a bigger deal when you were a kid, or did your childhood never put anyone else out?
I believe that parents should not have to apologize for being a parent. It is apart of life, and we have to deal with it wether someone is annoyed or not. Parents should not have to “please” strangers. And they should NOT judge the adult when they could be trying their darn best. Kids are spoiled brats, and even more so as the years go on. But some parents who could be trying their best to raise a child, who could be stressing about many thing, should not have to worry about strangers getting angry over a “headache”. Will it kill you? No. Some noise will NOT kill you. Parents stress over enough without strangers judging them and giving them a hard time.
This is the worst part for me when kids make excessive ‘distractions ‘. The parents are so stressed, and I’ve yet to see a parent ignore the child. They try any and everything to quiet the kid.
I would rather have cats owners who open carriers and leave area reeking of cat urine. Hubs is a captain, and he’s been pissed on by cats three times commuting to or from base. (Long career , but still)
However, I will hold the door for you, because I was raised with common decency. You however, sounds selfish, and self-righteous, which I guess you have a right to be. I choose not to be a jerk.
We are put on earth to have children. There are some people that think you can redefine a loving relationship to be between two people of the same gender but that kind of unnatural relationship will never continue to keep the earth populated. How ridiculous that someone thinks so little of people with kids. You should be saluting them because some of those kids will be running this planet and probably helping you when you are too old and/or frail to do anything yourself
Your post seems somewhat homophobic. I know many gay couples with children, who fly.
Since when is holding the door for someone “special privileges”?? Some of us are civilized enough that we do that as a matter of course for ANYONE. Even rude jerks like you.
BTW, you were once a child and your parents made that choice. I’m betting people were a LOT nicer to your mom than you are to moms. And I’m also betting you were as spoiled and self-serving then as you are now.
Shame on you. Obviously you have NO BUSINESS interacting with humans. Go back to your cave and STAY THERE.
Why fly with infants? It’s a choice. Why put the infant, yourself, and the passengers and crew in that position? The kid is suffering and crying. Maybe wait for a couple years to fly somewhere.
It’s not always a choice. My aunt was in this exact situation, she needed to fly out with a brand new baby girl a huge specialty brain surgery. The baby cried a lot, they tend to do that when they already have existing brain issues and air flight is exacerbating that. Your comments show a lack of understanding and empathy for your fellow humans. It is sometimes a choice, yes, but you don’t own the planes. Who are you to decide that a family should miss out on something because it mildly inconvieninces you? Who made your comfort more important than everyone else’s?
The planes sell tickets to people with kids, therefore they have as much right to be there (Loud or not.) as you do. Suck it up buttercup.
No, sorry, they may have not chosen to HAVE children but they did choose to KEEP them. That is much more admirable. They can only do the best they can, and with a few kind strangers in the world to help them out maybe the world will be a little better. Don’t be a jerk, help the poor mom open the door as she balances a child, shopping cart, and trys to do the best she can.
Fine. You’re entitled to choose to be a less-than-kind person. I wonder what would happen if you needed someone to hold the door for you because you were carrying multiple grocery bags or using crutches but the person ahead of you thought, “She chose this for herself,” and offered you no special help.
It must be hard for you to be so unhappy
Well kind of harsh there. No one expects you to do things but if someone is struggling with their kid it would be nice to just do a simple act of kindness and open a door. Is it really that hard to do? Yikes you better never expect anything out of anyone but your momma. It seems as maybe you don’t care for your own parents much.
Hence the downfall of a civilized society. I hope someone slams a door in your face when you’re so old you need help walking to the bathroom. By the way, it’s just regular ol’ polite to hold the door for ANYONE. Polite-ever hear that word? Guess not.
Amen!! Babies are humans too and part of life. I don’t expect a gift bag from my smelly seat mate.
Jajajaj OMG you are soo right, we should start making goodie bags for those passengers that fart and burp on the plain.
Great post. I’m so tired of the “don’t travel until they are ready to” argument. My kid did 30K miles in the last year. Were there a few times baby cried? Sure. Did we do everything we could? Of course.
This is a totally cultural thing. Of those 30K miles, about 50% were to/from/within Asia and about 30% were to/from Southern Europe or London. No nasty glares, no sneers, no comments. Everyone was willing to help if needed. Amazing difference to what one may experience here.
Another vote for the no goodie bag contingent! I work really hard to keep my kids quiet, entertained, and happy. That is enough.
Hear hear!
What a selfish bunch – perhaps it is best some of you do not have children – you would make horrible mothers. Were you always the perfect child – I am sure not – you cried and was maybe a terrible brat so stop being so righteous. You sound very ignorant.
I don’t pretend to know what the answer is for all this. But there’s got to be a middle ground between apologizing for having kids and inflicting your kid on the rest of us.
I think the middle ground is the “social contract” mentioned in the email. I, as a parent, will do what I can to minimize the disruption my child causes you (and anyone else). Those who are not traveling with kids, in turn, agree to keep your grumbling to yourself.
I hate this response, because if one cared about the types of people that are “inflicted” upon them, then one should not be taking a form of transportation where there is no control over the size, ages, races, religions, nationalities, smells, or even the quantities of each of those other passengers because not only are they random, they are not under one’s control! And I know that was a poorly written sentence and was redundant. Sorry to “inflict” that upon everyone.
If any type of passenger is an “infliction”, then public transport is just not an option.
I do not have kids, but I would much rather sit around crying kids (LAX to SYD in 2001 seats went single mom, 3 year old, younger than 3 year old, then me) than next to someone who does not fit into their seat and will have uncomfortable closeness to me or is forced to be literally pressed up against me the whole trip. However, if you are travelling with your kids and want to give me free candy, I’m not going to complain. It’s a little bit of a reverse stranger danger. Does that make it seem weird now? Still give me candy.
Hey if there’s ever a question to which side I am on, it is the side of more free candy 😀
Agree about the middle ground, but…
I will admit I really hate parents who sit there doing nothing, acting all natural while their child is screaming off the top of her lungs. Had a pleasure witnessing such a coupe recently on the way from Panama; watching TV, their headphones probably blasting to compensate for the discomofort coming from their bundle of joy.
As a father, I will say (and did say it to them) that they suck as parents, although not in these exact words. Your job is to make everything you can to make your child more comfortable – and for her own sake firstly, not other passangers’. They didn’t like it and complained to the FA, who politely (yet scornfully) explained to them that they had to, at least, try. Gotta love United customer service, sometimes. 🙂
Unfortunately, there are lots of parents like that in the sky, who read these articles, and decide that acting all cool, doing nothing, like it’s not even their child, is the way to go. No, it isn’t.
On the other hand, noice is rarely an issue for me unless I’m sleeping. Headphones, some music, or an audiobook, or a movie will handle most of the noice. I’d say, “accidents” and resulting stink are a much bigger problem.
I see what you are saying. I think sometimes not doing anything and let kid cry could be the only option. Of course, listening to music at that time is a crime. Crying isn’t something parents can stop. What if the baby is getting ear pain due to air pressure? or scared of all these new people.
Can we stop parents going to cousins marriage? I think, its public transport, people should not expect “no babies”.
For what it’s worth, I agree with all above and the line is the “Social Contract”.
People who think it’s “your problem if you’re annoyed by the scream-machine I brought on your plane” are breaking the contract just as much as people who roll their eyes at the poor mom doing everything she can.
If we’re all in it together and the parent feels bad and/or would change the situation if they could, I think that’s ideal. But when either party gets on their high horse that’s where I have an issue.
Great response. I think we’d all be a lot happier if everyone just tried to calm down and recognize that flying in an airplane IS a stressful situation (for everyone!). So if we could all just be a little slower to anger, and quicker to forgive other people’s faults, I think it would all go a lot better!
No to the goody bag. Would rather the parent use the carry on space to have items to keep the child quiet. (Whether that be toys, snacks, pacifiers, meds, iPads with headsets, whatever.)
Parents who make no effort to calm a crying child, or constrain an older child, are worse than the child creating the disruption. And to them I say, “what about the Social Contract of Children are to be Seen and Not Heard?”
We have never done the candy bags when traveling with our kids (and that is quite a few international flights). The goodie bags are normally better off being used on the kids :).
But, I have no problem when parents want to do that. It does show that they may be uncertain about how their kids may react (especially first time) and I know they are thinking ahead to try and make it as peaceful as possible for all.
I actually got a bag one time for an elderly lady who was flying on her way to a nursing home and being escorted by her grandkids. She was really anxious and let out a couple of yells during turbulence. I really did feel bad for her, but the candy was very good!
I agree once you have kids it’s much easier to take; it’s annoying, but then you’re not the one trying to deal with it. If we can’t help other people, we should at least be sympathetic.
If you decide to take a 10 PM flight with a toddler, then it should have been no surprise that she had a meltdown. With my son, we don’t take flights at such times to avoid that situation.
Agreed. But that was many years ago and we were young and stupid (and poor) and those were probably the only flights we could take.
If being young, stupid and poor is a rationale for breaking the social contract you advocate than no wonder so many pax are intolerant of screaming babies. Most parents meet this criteria (or at least the young and poor portion)
Plus you probably thought she’d be asleep the whole flight given the fsct that it was overnight. I don’t think it was unreasonable to try an overnight flight. Many parents do car trips overnight while their kids are sleeping. You couldn’t have predicted that she wouldn’t sleep.
Sometimes a scheduled 1pm flight departs at 11pm 🙁
I think it’s really up to the parents, no parents should be forced to give out goody bags but at the same time if parents feel more comfortable and confident when they do give them out I don’t think they should be shamed into not doing just because other parents don’t want it to become a societal norm.
I’ve had parents give me goody bags before (although I was sitting next to them) and it was a nice ice breaker (I got to know both them and their child quite well on the flight as a result) and I’ve also had lots of parents not give me goody bags. Personally I don’t really care either way, whatever makes thing easiest for the parents is OK by me.
I always travel with a good set of earphones and earplugs, so if it’s ever an issue I can just pop those in and fall asleep.
No parents should feel forced to give out a goodie bag, but as a childless person, I think it is a nice surprise. I would be more inclined to interact with them and help out.
I hadn’t actually considered that we might be setting the bar high for new parents. Being a new dad I had pondered the goodie bag idea for baby’s first flight but doubt I’d spend the time and effort. I’d rather concentrate on how we’re going to handle the airport experience and getting on and off the plane. Plus, if my kid is an awesome flyer I’m out $10 in Rolos, Jr. Mints and earplugs.
Now that I think about it, my kits would be WAY nicer…I have standards.
LOL- I like the way you think!
I don’t have kids, but I can sympathize with parents of the younger ones, especially if they are having issues with their ears. I have these issues myself. Every time the cabin pressure changes, my ears pop, they get clogged, and sometimes they hurt something awful (the only time I remember them REALLY hurting was a trip to California in 1995, but I was 12 at the time, so that’s irrelevant to the story). According to my parents, when I was a baby, I would scream bloody murder on the flight because my ears hurt. Truthfully, I have never been on a flight where the kids were being pains in the butt (my parents have, though. On one flight, some kid actually pulled my mom’s headphones off while she was wearing them, but I don’t know what the parents did about it, or what my mom did about it, either, I didn’t ask). As I have stated before, I am not a frequent flyer, and I haven’t been in a situation where I am seating within the near viscinity of a child. I have heard screaming kids from other areas of the plane, but never have I sat in front of an infant or a child who likes to kick the seats.
As for handing out goody bags, well, I honestly think it would be very stupid for someone to actually expect one every time a parent with a small child boards the plane. “Oh goody! Free candy for me! Here comes a parent with a baby! Wahoo!” But in all honesty, I think preparing goody bags is up to the parent. If they want to go through the trouble to make a bunch of these goody bags for complete strangers, that’s their business. Though I would accept one, because sucking on the candy would help my poor ears!
As Erin noted, young children cry because their ears hurt during takeoff and landing. All a parent has to do is give them something to suck on. It’s kinda amazing that so many parents don’t seem to know what the problem is, or that the flight attendants don’t tell the dumb parents about the problem.
While I agree that is ONE reason young children cry, I don’t think it’s the ONLY reason.
I would hate to see passengers come to expect goodies from already-stressed traveling parents. That isn’t fair.
Still, these parents were socially brilliant, and their strategy is not hard to or costly to reproduce. Their note, not the treats, made the difference. The cute “introduction” transformed their daughter from “that shrieking baby who is driving everyone mad” to “Little Madeline, who is having a rough flight.” What a difference in attitude when Madeline is now a person passengers feel they know.
Also with that note the parents are, in effect, empathizing with the fellow passengers: “Look, we get it. You were anticipating a shriek-free flight today.” By making it clear that they understand, these parents reap the reward of reciprocated understanding and empathy from those around them.
I’ll pop on my ear buds, turn up the volume and type away on my I-Pad some nice graphic wishful fiction on the life ending car crash you will end up on at you destination or all the torture tactics I’d love to use on your family while sitting in the same row with them. If I must sit by you and your crotch dropping, then let me at least enjoy all the things I’d love to do to you as your brat wails away.
Uh…. thanks?
As far as I’m concerned, the world would be better off without ANY children to bother us adults. In fact, if we could keep that up long enough, the entire earth might finally be a quieter place.
Agree with Erin and GH that small kids on a plane suck! Alternatively, you can also gently pull down on their earlobes to try to relieve the pressure. Give those older kiddos pediatric Benadryl if they have allergies to open air passages and prevent pressure build up.
My best friend just took her toddler from LHR to LAS and back. He “misbehaved” both ways (her word). She was stressed out before she went, during both flights and during her holiday thinking about the flight home. This begs the obvious question – was it worth it?
She said she won’t be doing this again for a while….
“Goodie Bags” would never work in the UK by the way.
Crying kids suck….for everyone involved. I don’t think parents need to do goodie bags, but i do think it’s a nice gesture. I don’t think I’d really want to eat food from a perfect stranger. I do think the gesture shows that these parents are going to do everything in their power to keep the baby happy and quiet. At the end of the day though a baby is a baby.
What I do think is a parent needs to make smart decisions. The blog post in this article where he is taking his baby on a 10pm flight that lands after midnight seems like a poor choice. I’d like to know why you’d choose to take a baby on a 10pm flight? Unless the kid is passed out he is gonna probably be not too happy. If it’s because you are getting to a funeral/dying relative….thats one thing. Anything else is selfish.
Shaun – some good points. One thing to consider is that the type of parent that is conscientious enough to think of making airplane goodie bags for their kid is also the same type of parent that is generally going to do their best to help their kid have a pleasant flight and not bother other passengers. The type of parent that lets their kid do whatever they want (that most people seem to have trouble with) is also the type of parent that isn’t going to be making you an airplane goodie bag 🙂
As for the flight at 10pm, that was me, and was many years ago when I was much younger and much stupider :-). It’s been 15 years so I don’t remember the exact circumstances but generally I agree with you that late night flights with young kids are not great ideas.
It’s all on the parents. If they make goody bags, kudos to them, but this should never be an expectation by others, IMO. If mom and dad do their best to console and comfort their kids during the flight, I don’t care if the kids scream the entire trip. The parents are doing what they can. Sometimes traveling is a necessity, not an extra. And I don’t care if they have 2 kids or 12.
However, it can go completely the other way. On a recent flight from Rome to Dublin on RyanAir, I was quite tempted to call out some parent(s) for their complete disregard of everyone (and their child). Their three-year-old decided to make his way up and down the aisle, vaulting off each pair of armrests. The first time it was cute. The 10th time or so, it was certainly not. What surprised me most was that the FAs basically ignored him, even as he pushed past them and other passengers multiple times.
That’s exactly what I was saying. If the parents want to make goody bags, that’s their business. And I will sympathize with the parents if they are going through heck and back trying to calm their child down (if it’s an issue with the ears, I will sympathize more because I have been there. I was one of those babies that people on airplanes hate). My issue is if the kid is screaming, or being annoying, and the parent is NOT doing anything.
I have two children, now in the 20s. I remember a single episode when my daughter had a major melt-down on a flight, the only time in their combined childhoods that either of them lost it on a plane. I remember saying a sort of prayer that if I survive the stress of this flight, I would cut some slack on other parents for the rest of my life. I’ve stuck to it. My husband is a bit more crabby but a gentle reminder calms him down.
I also would never flight without ear plugs. Period.
While I wouldn’t expect a goodie bag, if you’re going to hand them out I prefer mine filled with good old cash.
So you think it was fine to take your two-year’old on a 10 p.m. flight, making literally dozens of people miserable for hours, but you think it’s horrible that some patents are so considerate as to offer a small token for the disturbance? Did anyone not treat you with “basic human decency” while your kid was screaming at the top of her lungs and they were trying to sleep? I doubt it but I can tell you more than a few tempted. You were annoyed too but you choose to fly, you picked the flights and it’s different when it isn’t your kid.
It’s really selfish of you and inconsiderate to discourage other parents from giving out goody bags. But I’m not surprised given your “too bad, so sad” attitude toward all the people whose flight your kid ruined when you took her on a night flight.
>Ido everything I can to stop my baby from
>crying on a plane. Trust me, I hate that
>sound even more than you do
give the toddler a quarter sudafed an hour before the flight … then maybe shoot some afrin decongestant nasal spray up the kids nose
the kids ears wont pop with the pressure change on takeoff or landing … thus no earache, thus at worst minimal boredom crying without any pain crying
I just came across this on pinterest and had to read it. My daughter and I were kidnapped 16 months ago. It took 2 months, my family, my fiancee, and 2 uncaring police officers for us to get home. The flight was awful. My daughter wasnt having any of it and screamed for an hour on the flight before the steward came to my rescue. I’ll forever be grateful to that man for his help in consoling my little girl when the women sitting next to me made nasty comments about how I was probably the kidnapper since my own baby didnt seem to respond to my tricks. It was the worst thing anyone could have said to me after what we’d been through, what we were still dealing with.
I saw this idea and thought perhaps this is something I should have done in the rush to get away from our abductor, but the truth is no, it’s not something I or any other new mother should be required to think about. We already have so much going on to appease others is simply out of the question.
Thank you for this article even though I’m reading years later.
I’ll grant you the “return from kidnapping” excuse, but how did your daughter GET to where you were kidnapped in the first place? On a plane, perhaps???
I vote NO on the goodie bags. Sweet and fun idea, but it can become the standard if we are not careful. My husband and I flew internationally with twin toddler boys….so I was really stressed out about people hating us. I finally had to come to the realization that I would never see these people again and I was worrying way too much about pleasing them. I’m not saying I didnt care, but I realized if they were going to be mad, I couldnt stop them. No one should ever EXPECT to have a silent, peaceful plane ride. Your expectation will NEVER be met. Instead be understanding and sympathetic.
I agree that we don’t want to set up something where strangers expect a goodie bag if you have a crying baby. Personally, I don’t think a goodie bag will always help if passengers are trying to sleep with a crying baby on a long-haul flight. If passengers are trying to get work done and are interrupted by a crying baby, the goodie bag won’t help either. Maybe if the parents bought Bose noise cancelling for all the passengers, it may help. Although, I don’t think that’s going to happen.
hmmm… so exactly why would any experienced traveler be on a plane without packing their own earplugs and/or noise cancelling headphones is beyond me.
babies cry, people snore, planes are loud. not new information…
For about 99.9% of human history, families survived without being able to transport their children around at 500 mph. I don’t think that it is too much to ask that, for the few years when children may not be able to travel by air without terrorizing their fellow passengers, the children stay at home, travel by car, etc.
People choices to have children, to live far from grandparents, to visit distant vacation sites, and so forth. They should not impose THEIR choices on ME and the rest of the flying public. Unless it involves bringing a child somewhere for critical health care, children should fly when they can BEHAVE, and not before.
(Same applies to some ADULTS, but that’s a whole ‘nother comment.)
Honestly asking someone to do something that costs more time and possibly money then flying somewhere for the sake of appeasing strangers is wholly unrealistic and frankly quite rude. You don’t know the parents situation and why they are choosing to fly with their kid so don’t judge them and don’t be rude to them. Instead be a prepared flyer. Even without kids planes can still be noisy so its always a good idea to bring ear plugs and headphones. Echoing an earlier comment I read, if you truly believe that they are forcing their choices on you then I ask that you get a reality check. Did you stop to think that’s with that attitude you may in fact be one of the adults you say shouldn’t fly? Just show some human decency an realize the world isn’t but going to cater to you. Instead of asking the way you are show some sympathy for traveling parents because you were a child once and I bet you threw a few tantrums in public. I was one of those kids who traveled a lot before I was three and I know I cried on an airplane but I was my grandmas only grandchild and she lived 4hrs away (by plane). So I visited her a lot. My mom also had to travel a lot for work and often brought me with her cause she didn’t have another option. I’m sharing my personal experiences so you can realize that you shouldn’t judge someone else since you have no clue what their life is like. Just show some human decency.
Correction: People MAKE choices . . .
You, as the Author, need to FIND SOMETHING POSITIVE TO WRITE ABOUT OR DON’T WRITE ANYTHING AT ALL. YOU’RE NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION, YOU’RE PART OF THE PROBLEM when you ask for people’s opinions and then sit back and watch the arguing to begin. You could have written the ‘gift giving’ in a positive light instead of a negative. How does this affect YOU??? Don’t we have enough division in this world without adding to it?
I agree with not making bags. I seen people do this for airplanes, Disneyland, schools and so many things. Honestly keep your candy and ear plugs and use that money for other things. Heaven forbid a tiny human cries or farts or whatever. No need to apologize for being a human. If someone is upset because the little human does what they do than its the fault as well of the adult human who knew there may be a chance that a baby or two may be on board public transportation. If they don’t like little humans that go, take a privately owned plane. If you can’t afford one get a better job. Parents quit saying sorry and quit asking for attention. Easy.
It would be a better world if some of these child haters parents had decided not to have children.