Flying with Children

    I don't travel by plane very often. I did, however, take a trip to Hilton Head over Spring Break and was on a total of 4 planes for the trip there and back. On a side note, what's up with having to pay to check you bags? It's been so long since I've flown, I totally forgot about that charge and wasn't happy I had to spend an extra $50 (ouch!).

    Anyway, back to my recent flights. On our first flight, there was a mom traveling alone with two young children (around 2-years old and 8 months). As luck would have it, we were seated a 2 rows behind them. They younger of the two cried and carried on quite a bit. Tori was complaining about the "loud baby" and I explained how difficult it is to travel with young children (I flew with Ally when she was 2 and know what a headache it can be) and that we shouldn't complain. I sided with and felt compassion for the mom. For an hour. Then, she (mom) took a nap while the kids continued to cry/whine/etc. At that point, I became frustrated as well. While she slept (or pretended to sleep and ignore her kids) the rest of us got to listen to them, which made for a longer and more unpleasant flight.

    After our return I was telling my mom about the incident and she pointed out that I didn't know what that mom had been through that day or was going through, and maybe she needed the nap and basically told me I should have more compassion for this mom.

    What do you think? Are you thoughts with mine, that the mom should have looked out for/entertained her kids on the flight or do your thoughts match my mom's?

Posted by Margaret Sarver