A great thing about being the pilot. On large planes you have a door you can shut.
On small planes there is not a kid in the world I can’t shut up. < veg >
I am 6’4" and ugly, with a beard and stuff and such and so have used my demeanor a few times on kids who are messing with women. ( they never seem to mess with me. )
One thing I think we are missing is that society has made it very dangerous to discipline a child, even our own. As much as the tazer idea appeals to me, the problems could be large. So the ability of the stewards to do anything may be severely limited by the company lawyers.
As to Una’s opening statement, I don’t think she was over stating the case for behavior on the SDMB at all.
I think a quick response to any problem in an aircraft is what is needed. I think the third bump in the first 10 seconds of sitting there should have resulted in Una going super nova on the parent of the kicking kid/s, loudly and rudely and with threats and requests for an evaluating form for the airline and flight crew. Mumbles about attorneys on retainer anyway and a demand for name, address and phone numbers and a picture ID. And do this all real loud and directed right at the child and parent.
Fights are usually won by the firstest with the mostest.
If I may make a suggestion for those of who aren’t 6’4" and ugly, take up knitting.
Several weeks ago, I was sitting on a plane back home having said good–bye to two very dear friends. I was facing an hour long flight, and I was depressed and unsociable. I was sitting in the plane, looking out the window and knitting a Christmas present for a different friend when a woman appeared next to me with a four-year old daughter who immediately started whining about how she wanted a window seat and “Why couldn’t she get a window seat?” I’m not all that good with kids either, and I realized I could be looking at a very uncomfortable flight. After she got settled, the mother handed her little girl a bag of toys and the one the girl picked out was a rather squeaky, noisy one. Her mother said that wasn’t a good toy to play with because it was noisy which wasn’t nice to the other passengers, and the little girl protested she liked playing with it.
I’m a firm believer in being proactive. If you don’t like something try to change it. It may not succeed, but it’s worth a shot. Since the mother was trying to teach her daughter to behave properly, I got the mother’s eye, shot her a glance, and gave her wink since I was reasonably certain we were on the same wavelength. I turned a bit so my sharp, pointy bamboo knitting needles were visible and said in a rather little girlish voice, “You know, I like stabbing little girls with knitting needles, but I don’t think I’ll do so. It wouldn’t be nice.” The little girl found a different toy to play with, and I wound up having pleasant conversation with both of them during the flight. It may not work every time, but, as I said, it was worth a shot.
CJ
It’s amazing how many problems can be solved by invoking sharp, pointy objects!
Not that I really want to keep arguing on what’s supposed to be Curry Day, but the only other “reply” I see in this thread is you saying in effect you wish you had put things like Mtgman did. Was there some other post here where you retracted OR clarified:
Because I don’t see how I “selectively” missed that. Why not post a link to what I “selectively” missed on that subject?
Actually, he meant that in the US, the term “creche” is generally used to refer to a Nativity scene display. We do use “crib” in a similar fashion to you. (And the first lines of a Christmas song just popped into my brain: “Away in a manger, no crib for a bed…”)
Thanks, Ferret Herder. And to clarify further, the children-and-parents area of the airplane, which coldfire and jjimm were talking about, would probably be called a “nursery” in the US. Which probably makes Europeans think of plants and trees … are we sure we share a language?
What conclusion is that, please? All I said was that it said something about you. What that something is, I’m not sure. But rest assured that I am familiar with your 7000+ posts, so any conclusion I draw regarding you will bear those in mind.
I forgot I deleted the first reply I wrote after I saw Mtgman’s reply on preview. So, I can’t link to anything. Oops.
I have been around these boards for some time, and I lurked for quite some time before that. I apologize for not knowing your complete posting history in detail and allowing for such in my reply to the OP. And I really don’t think such an allowance is necessary anyway. Maybe you were just simply blowing off steam. It certainly was a horrible trip so I can understand the need to. But the quote in my reply gives a certain impression, stronger than just the regular “personal-space” people like when in crowds etc. I don’t think that impression comes off as very people friendly.
My only realy complaint about your behavior is cussing at the mom. You were much nicer and handled the other kid’s dad skillfully and politely. You don’t say how old the first kids were (I’m assuming they were younger than the second boy?) but, as a parent (even one with a “potty mouth”), I would not respond well to someone expressing themselves in such a way. But, also, my kids wouldn’t have been allowed to be so unruly on a flight.
In the first case you had a rough flight, the kids drove you crazy, you lost your temper. In the second situation, the kid drove you crazy, was a complete and utter bastard, you handled the situation as well as I think anyone could. You’re batting 500, a “score” which I suspect lots of people couldn’t match. If you were a baseball player you’d be a gazzillionaire. Good luck on your future flights.
Well…OK. I’m wondering how the start of one single rant in the Pit can colour your perception of me so much. That makes me sad on one level. Other levels try not to care what negative things anyone might think about me based on a single, solitary Pit rant, as basing a conclusion on what something says about me on that would be silly and ignorant. Most other levels are hungry and wish they had the car so they could go get lunch. Finally, some are worried about Thanksgiving and finding a good pumpkin soup recipe.
You wouldn’t happen to have a good pumpkin soup recipe, would you? Probably not…and I’ll bet you wouldn’t post it if you did, would you, just to spite me?
In the first situation, she wasn’t being physically intimidated by the parent. Frankly, I think a big part of why these sorts of parents are so much more common now is because they don’t meet with enough public condemnation. If the parents got a tongue lashing every time their Precious Li’l Angel acted up, they’d be much more motivated to keep their brats in line.
I was also curious as to what, exactly, not like children says about a person, other than “they don’t like children.”
Well shoot, if your other post was deleted/missing, how was I guilty of selective reading? You see my confusion? (look - see it right there ==> )
Well, I’m not a robot, and the situations built up differently. On the first flight, the kicking was long, merciless, and hard enough to make the seatback hit my head. It was more of a slow, steady torture…kick…kick…kick…scream directly behind my seat…kick…scream…slam body against seat. I was tired and worried about missing my connection, and there we were on the tarmac, sitting, with the UNBELTED children (which the flight attendent did not care about) torturing the three of us in front of them. The plane was hot, there were no refreshments, and tension was building throughout the plane. I’m sure it was not fun for the kids either, but they still had no right to increase the misery of others.
Think about my situtaion and please give me the benefit of the doubt. The first flight, although the second involved a more direct “affront”, was far more stressful. And the fact that the mother was right there, next to the kids, not doing anything visible or audible to quiet them (the only time she spoke to them was essentially her one “halfhearted” statement she made.) and allowing them to torment us us for HOURS, was what pushed me over the edge.
I may have a bad temper when pushed or threatened (ESPECIALLY when threatened), but overall I think I’m a good traveller to be around. I’m small and curl up in my seat by the window, away from people. I don’t talk on my cell phone on the plane or dictate into my laptop. I don’t yell across the aisles to co-workers. I don’t spread out newspapers across the laps of others. My carry-on bag always fits neatly in the space provided. I don’t sit in the wrong seat then argue that it’s the correct one, even though the sign directly over my head tells me I’m wrong. I don’t blow the air jet on fellow passengers. If I drink, I go right to sleep and don’t have night terrors (“Ahh! Cobras! Cobras!!!”) If they are sleeping, I refrain from turning on the light so as not to bother them. I also “hold it” as long as possible so I won’t disturb sleeping fellow passengers by climbing over them to head to the loo. I help them with their luggage, although I’m not that strong and can’t lift many bags very well. I carefully note down the travel tag info on their luggage and send them anonymous Godiva chocolates (OK, maybe not…).
In short, it was the kicking and the total and complete lack of care from a parent sitting 3 inches away from them that set me off. If you think I’m still at 0.500, then so be it.
Unless you have a pumpkin soup recipe that’s any good…in which case, we can be friends.
It was a bad situation, the kids were monsters, the parents were worse than useless or were part of the problem, what else could have been done? I sure can’t think of anything. And I’ll look for a pumpkin soup recipe although it sounds yech.
This is the first dust-up (or whatever your preferred term is) I’ve ever had on these here boards. And I’m still around to post another day.
It means that individual’s judgements regarding children should be scrutinized for possible influence of bias instead of being accepted as objective observations. Doesn’t mean the observation was not valid, or that the data should be discarded, but the pre-disposition of the observer towards the subject should be part of the equation. It’s nothing personal, and it would apply to people who like children in a like manner. A predisposition to be forgiving of bad behavior because of the observer’s general feelings towards children should be weighed when trying to understand a situation objectively.
As I said earlier, there were enough objective points of reference to say the children were definitely behaving badly from a reasonably objective standpoint. Una is certainly entitled to be pissed off and to rant about these particular parental units and their offspring as they behaved in these incidents. She never claimed she was speaking for anyone but herself, nor did she claim to be the high priestess of objective truth. I didn’t find anything wrong with her rant. I might question taking it as evidence for allowing stewardesses to carry tasers, or making other policy decisions however.
Good luck with the soup Una! I personally find pumpkin soup repellant, but I’m not some high priest of objective truth or anything.
Excellent point Miller, especially considering that what she REALLY said was that she didn’t generally like children.
Meaning that there are likely some specific children, and some specific instances where she DOES like children.
Heck, I have kids and I don’t “generally” like kids either. For precisely the reason the OP states. Too many parents just let them run wild with no consideration for other people.
)
Not that I really want to keep arguing on what’s supposed to be Curry Day, but the only other “reply” I see in this thread is you saying in effect you wish you had put things like Mtgman did. Was there some other post here where you retracted OR clarified: