Letiole, Yes it is a regulation set by Transport Canada under CARs on my home turf and cannot be diluted, altered or dictated on by individual airlines. I can only guess that it would be the same or similar under the aviation regulations governed by the FAA or regulatory bodies in other countries.

Frankly I found it appalling that an fa would instruct a parent to place their child on the floor especially in an emergency situation. This must have been the "brainstorm" of a very inexperienced fa or one who's training did not sink in properly.

The only association that can be made for safer conditions at floor level is: objects placed on the floor are not as susceptible to the effects of turbulence. Experiment next time by taking that beverage sloshing around on your tabletop and placing it on the floor and you will notice that the displacement is not as great nor is it as likely to tip over. When turbulence hits suddenly and unexpectedly we will often quickly put our coffeepots, glass bottles, and other hazardous items on the galley floors before diving into our own seatbelts. This minimizes the potential damage when there is not time to stow the equipment properly.

Never would a crew member be trained by an airline to place a innocent, defenceless human life on the floor hoping that this "trick of the trade", meant for inanimate objects during turbulence, would sustain or protect that life in an emergency situation.

I cannot believe the blind faith, or more likely the blind fear, that compelled that mother to meekly followed this illogical instruction. She paid such a dear price for doing so.

I once had to take a firm stand with a mother who wouldn't pick her child up off the floor when the seatbelt sign came on. She responded that her child was a hinderance while she was eating her meal and demanded I find somewhere else to "put" the infant until she was finished eating if I kept insisting that the floor was inappropriate. Without having to resort to legal threats, I was finally able to convince her to pick up her child by describing in detail the potential injuries her child could receive, expounding on the nasty microscopic life that was probably thriving in the carpet to start with, and by pointing out the horrified reaction evident on the faces of the people seated around and beside her who were privy to the confrontation...in that order. It took plan "C" for her to react.