How To Deal With Crying Child !!!
 

I am not sure if I should post this, since I got smash regarding my last thread.

Anyway, I took a short flight from ORD-LAX recently. I has a window seat in F. Right behind me were a boy who w about 6 years old, traveling with his mother.

I said hi to him when we waited on the RC, then again said HI when I noticed them sat right behind me.

I tried to close my eyes and sleep; until I noticed he started to say "Mommy, I want ...blah blah blah" Then busted out crying. It was annoying but I did not say anything until the kid started to sit on the floor behind my seat and pushed the back of my seat. The mother tried to stopped him, and asked if he would get back to his seat.

The kid kept kicking which made me feel like there were an earthquake. I turned around and asked nicely " Hi, I am trying to sleep. Do you think you could try not to push my seat back and forth ? "

He listened and got back to this seat , but then the mother confronted me " I don't think you should talk to my son like that. Next time, if you have a problem, speak directly to me."

I really think that this boy were very spoiled and he could do whatever he wanted. Consider he traveled in F....

I was just wonder if what I did was wrong. I am 23 years old, NO KIDS. When I was younger, my parents asked people to speak directly to me instead of asking them questions about me while I am THERE.

Maybe I was wrong, but I asked him very nicely.

What do you do when that happen to you? Crying baby, or children behaving badly on the plane. What would you do ?

For all the parents who travel with kids, what should people do when your son/daughter bothers them?

my solution
 

If child cries, increase oven temperature to 230C. :p

I like what you did. Not like it was even rude...

(btw, i'm sorry you had such a bad first experience on FT :))

I think your approach was fine. Unfortunately, the parents of children who cause problems like this are likely to be the ones who will give you grief regardless of how you handle it. For this reason, I'll generally try once, politely, and then call over the FA if the problem persists.

I think you did fine. I've done the same thing, very nicely, and was surprised how well the kid complied. In my case (tray down, tray up, tray down, tray up, tray down...) the kid simply wasn't aware of the fact that it could bother the person in the seat in front...

HTB.

As long as you said it in a calm, nice manner, I don't believe you did anything wrong.

I think if the mother did talk to her son this way when needed he would not grown up to do this now.

I am generally a big defender of children & flying. But in this case I must agree with what you did.

As a parent of of a child who because a 1k before his first birthday I can say it has a lot to do with up brining. Some kids try to push the limits with the parents but not with strangers.

You did fine. If the mother did not think her child was smart enough or mature enough to be spoken to like a real person, that is her problem.

This is a typical case of parents wondering why their kids act up and don't listen to them but when they recieve the slightest feedback from strangers, the parent takes offense at it. It's just absolutely pathetic.

Considering that this was a plane and that it is the airline's property, I would've talked to the FA about the situation, no matter how you look in the eyes of the parent, you deserve to travel without hassle or being disturbed.

(What's even worse is if you are right in saying he is 6 and still acting up and crying, this parent REALLY has failed.)

Crying kids are part of what we put up with to have cheap fares. It's especially annoying when they're in Business or First but kids cry and you can't do any more than keep them away, which no airline does.

Misbehaving is altogether different. Parents have an obligation to keep their kids from seat kicking, grabbling and all the other direct contact actions. I don't address the kids, I speak to the parent. And if that doesn't work, I go to a FA and ask him or her to intervene.

Sounds like the mother wanted to shield her kid from your rebuke. I think you were right to speak to the kid yourself...after all, shouldn't he show some deference to you (as a stranger) that he might not show to his mother? (the little brat!)


I also wouldn't hesitate to notify the FA if the seat-kicking continues.

As others have said, you did the perfectly OK thing with a 6 year old. A younger child, you might have spoken to the parent instead.

However, with this parent, I doubt anything you did would have been right for her!

I am much more tolerant of ill behaviour in a 2-4 year old. I am still surprised how nasty folks on this board can get about a 3 year old for example kicking the seat. When our daughter was that age, her feet hit exactly the back of the seat in front of her. It was very difficult to make sure that she wasn't kicking - but you can bet we were vigilant, keeping our hands on her feet to stop her in the event that she started. However, at three, kids lack impulse control, so I think as long as the parent is clearly trying, there should be some tolerance.

But a six year old acting like this? And the parent clearly not trying? That is wrong.

I did as you did once - but travelling in Y. The child kept kicking my seat so I asked him not to, politely. The mother replied that the child had not been kicking my seat and started to comfort the child by telling him that I was a sad man who didn't like children and was probably very lonely. It is sad to see jailbait in the making.

You handled the situation very well. A 6 year old who probably is already or will be soon a first grader should be addressed directly. At this age children need to learn to respect and listen to other people other their close relatives.