I don’t like children. I don’t like toddlers. I don’t like babies. No matter how cute you think he or she might be, I don’t like your baby either. And I don’t like you for bringing your baby on board the plane. No matter how annoying the chatty neighbor or drunk passengers are, their antics pale in comparison to those of children. And the noise… Those high pitched screams and wails that pierce your eardrums, and the very walls of your inner peace. No amount of earplugs and loud music via headphones can drown it out. Children that aren’t your own are awful.
Not too long ago, I read an article about traveling with babies on planes. More fun than the article however, were the comments. There was the usual TYPING IN ALL CAPS, the back and forth bickering between strongly divided parties. Parents blame the people in the “don’t travel with kids” category of being privileged and ignorant, and those in the “Without” camp just downright hate people who bring their (young) kids along. There were a lot of heated arguments about why one should or should not travel with children.
But really, the why and why not don’t matter. The reasons are just as unimportant. The days of luxurious and for the elite only flights are long gone (thankfully). Flying is a convenient way to travel, and fair game for everyone. You can argue all want why traveling with babies is a bad idea, but you don’t know why people are traveling. People could not be going on a vacation at all. It could be an emergency, for instance. Regardless, they paid for their tickets and have every right to be on that flight. Stare daggers at them if you need to. Just do what you can to make the flight as comfortable for yourself as possible.
Flying can be an awful experience and crying toddlers make the experience even worse. Keep that in mind when you bring your kids along. It doesn’t matter that “as a parent you have it even worse than the other passengers.” That’s your problem. Deal with it. Deal with your kids, and deal with the fact everyone else on board hates you. For the duration of the flight, you and your kids are terrible people.
No matter what side you’re on, everyone wants to get to their destination as as easy and relaxed as possible. Parents aren’t taking that flight to make your life a living hell on purpose, they simply have some place to be. And I don’t really hate you or your infant. I just pray you can keep it quiet.
We’re all on this flight together. The parent, the businessman, the smelly one, the loud one, the 5 months old. As soon as the plane lands we can all go about our business.
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