Originally Posted by
madfish
I am almost lost for words over your attitude.
And, happily, I'm not at a loss for words over the attitude of parents who think they have superior rights to my seat.
There is also something of a contradiction here as you don't care who they are but not if they are only 4. Make your mind up.
You left off the qualifier:
"I treat all the passengers the same:
as long as they don't create a nuisance for me, I simply don't care who they are -- they're welcome to sit next to me."
Four year olds require constant supervision and attention. That creates a nuisance for me. Your four year old is not welcome to sit by himself/herself next to me. On the other hand, as I mentioned, I've had 7-8 year old UMs seated next to me and they were fine and very pleasant seatmates and presented no nuisance to me whatsoever. They were welcome to sit next to me.
I don't think that's particularly confusing.