We recently went on one of the most epic trips my little family has ever been on. But flying three hours with two little kids causes me so much stress and all I have a billion things running through my head: do the kids have enough to entertain then? Will they be able to pop their ears as we go up? What will the lady on the plane think of my kids if they scream and yell?
Watch What You Say
I can’t tell you the number of times that I have flown. I remember many times being on a flight where kids were screaming, yelling, kicking my seat. No one likes that and I was for sure one of those people hating it. Thinking about the parents and how they couldn’t’ control their kids would constantly run through my mind. How hard can it be to just hold a kid for three hours and keep them entertained? Little did I know.
Some say karma comes back to you as a parent. The many things you say as a single person without kids comes back to haunt you. At least, that’s what I thought would always happen to me. Thankfully, I am blessed with kids that do pretty good when on a plane. But they’re not perfect in any way, that’s for sure.
Stressed Out Parents
When flying to Chicago we were lucky to have an entire row just for my little family. We were able to keep our toddler constantly entertained. Plus, it was late at night so sleeping was definitely going to be happening for both kids.
On the flight home though, it was a completely different story. We were leaving in the middle of the day. We had to sit on different sides of the plane and had a baby that didn’t want to sleep, she wanted to squirm.
As I sat in my seat with a baby that wasn’t wanting to sit still I hoped no one would be sitting in the seat next to me. The time ticked and we were just about to close the doors, when the final boarding passenger got on. Luckily, she was going to be sitting next to me. Here was a woman that wasn’t married and didn’t look like the type that would enjoy a screaming baby.
I tried everything to get our one year old to calm down, but she just wanted to walk. With the small plane we were on it wasn’t easy walking around with a baby who just this week insisted on trying to learn to walk. Finally, my wife switched me seats. The young woman said something that completely changed everything, “Don’t worry if your kid screams, and doesn’t want to sleep. I totally understand!”
Short And Simple
Here was a young woman that doesn’t have kids and was fine with the loud noises, kicking and even breastfeeding. She didn’t feel like my daughter shouldn’t be there because she wasn’t happy. This young woman didn’t have to do anything to help, but the words she said did more than any help could have ever done for us.
When you see a parent on a plane, in a store, anywhere and their child is having a hard time you have no idea what they could be going through. As parents we try everything we can to make sure our kids aren’t bothering others because we were at one time in our lives, childless. We know how annoying they are, but look we try and if you can just say something like, “I understand, keep up the good work” that is all we need.
So to the woman on the plane that did nothing, thank you! You have no idea how much better you made that flying experience for our little family. We were just two stressed out parents trying to get our kids home and you calmed our fears and our children.
