Originally Posted by
peachfront
I'm not picking on her to pick on her. I've already said I defend the right of bloggers to make money and share information. I certainly don't think MP is ruining flyertalk or that her blog is the terror of the internet. However, I do feel a need to use peer pressure to point out that travel with small children should be generally DIScouraged, not ENcouraged. If you have no common sense and really would drive 14 hours straight with a small child, if you have DUIs or use drugs, if Grandma lives across the pond, if there is a family emergency and for some reason air travel would actually save time rather than costing time with flight delays and security lines...by all means, FLY! But, much of the time, small children are put through a lot of unnecessary stress and hassle, and we've all of us frequent flyers seen how miserable they are. Yes, everybody on flyertalk has a genius child who doesn't act out on long plane trips, but I'm talking about the actual children I've seen at the airport and on the plane, not your child who I've only heard about on the internet. I'm going to have believe my own lyin' eyes on this one. Fair enough?
I get what you're saying. If you've seen a bunch of horribly behaved children then you're probably biased towards thinking that most traveling children are horribly behaved. My kid just turned one this past Monday. My wife and I took a trip to Hawaii when he was 6 months old. We're determined to take our children with us with us where we go as opposed to letting our children dictate our schedules. Some people believe (I'm not saying you do) that having children is a death sentence to your travel plans. I don't fall in that camp. On the Hawaii flights, did he cry for a portion? Yep. But then we got him to settle down pretty quickly. My wife and I both did our best to help those around us feel comfortable; there are even some incredibly sweet and thoughtful people who offer to help - to hold my kid while I need to get something out of the diaper bag, etc. I find that in general, those that have kids are more tolerant of those that have kids, and it is for those folks that I'm grateful.
But I do understand your point - if the choice is between driving and flying, and they're both relatively convenient, I'll drive. For instance, my parents live in Monterrey, MX right for the time being. We find it easier to meet them in Laredo than directly in Monterrey, and we usually end up driving there. Would it be incredibly easy to book a short flight from DFW-LRD, especially with the dynamite value Avios would bring to the table? Sure would! But we choose to drive that route because it's a little easier for us. We can take all we want without the hassle of security, weight restrictions and time constraints.
I disagree with your cause of trying to discourage families from traveling. Those moments (certainly not all of them, but we take the bad with the good) can really build a lot of good memories. I find it difficult to understand judging another for having a slant on her blog towards families, or for choosing to fly with their kids. If their kids are running all around without regard for anyone else, that's one thing. But if the kids are generally well behaved and the baby cries every once in a while, why, I find absolutely nothing wrong with that.