Originally Posted by
RichMSN
I was flying with my 3-year-old daughter last month. 90 minute or so flight, she watched her iPod (a hand-me-down) loaded with Phineas and Ferb and some other stuff. Not a peep out of her the entire trip, but I didn't expect one, either.
As I was getting off the plane, a woman complimented me on her behavior. It felt, well, condescending in a way. And I'm afraid I unintentionally responded with "Of course she is well behaved. It's expected of her," or something equally snotty. But her question threw me off guard.
It's not like my daughter doesn't have her moments, but I program every moment of a trip with her with things for her to do so that the odds of her having a tantrum (or something similar) is so small that I don't even consider it.
I am a parent of 3 young children - all of whom routinely have their moments in private, but are generally exceptionally well behaved in public including planes - if my wife and I are doing our jobs.
I have (unfortunately) responded in a similar fashion as the poster above to this kind of comment about my kids. But I felt ashamed about it, and now I usually just politely thank the person.