<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JS:
...when you lie and fake sneeze in this situation, you are being childish. Kids cannot sit perfectly still like adults, but adults can be civilized and not act like children.</font>
Maybe it's childish, maybe not, but the important thing is that it's effective, and no one is being harmed, and the parents are getting the message that your children are disturbing other passengers, and you need to start demanding self-discipline from your children.
Is the age of four too early for that? If it is, I'm sure there are plenty of people who would say six is too early, ten is, 16 is - there's no limit to how long people today seem to believe they don't have to grow up. (Witness the popularity of South Park, Jerry Springer, Big Brother, etc.)
Having said that, hopefully, this situation presents itself rarely, and Analise doesn't have to do this very often. No one likes to be the bad guy, but better children learn when they are younger than later on. I have had to stop children from harassing other children when their parents were nowhere to be seen, and I did not enjoy it, but I'm proud I did it.