Hoodoo Highway

Air Tran - 1, Bad Ass Toddlers - 0

Ok, so I have to admit that I whooped with glee when I saw the news report the other day about the family that was booted from an Air Tran flight because their 3 year old would not get in her seat and quit crying. I think the issue was the not getting in the seat because they would not have been booted for just the crying. Anyway, I let out a "hallelujah!" and then quickly looked around for fear the MAEBOKs would advance and attack me. What is a MAEBOK you ask, well it is the Mommies Against Everything But Our Kids group. Come on, you know the ones. Their kids never do anything wrong. Their kids pitch fits and throw tantrums while mommy begs and pleads with them to stop. The ones that have out of control kids and they can not do, nor are they willing to do, anything about it. The ones that get their panties in a wad when the rest of us adults roll our eyes or move to another table. But I digress.

So the family gets booted off the plane. They are outraged and humiliated. They just needed a little extra time to comfort and console her, although news reports state that the child had already been crying and kicking her parents and the seats for 15 minutes!! (15 minutes ya'll). They told the parents to get her in a seat and buckled up because everyone has to be in a seat and buckled up. The mom was upset because they would not give her additional time to console the kid. CONSOLE? There ya go. Therein lies the problem. A disciplinary issue does not require consoling. DING DING DING. I tried to feel some sympathy but could muster none. When I read the additional information I was ok with what I was feeling. YES! Let's do more of it. Now, I understand the child who has the occasional meltdown, it happens. I have been the victim of it myself, little miss jen pulled a huge one on me in the middle of a Target store. Been there - done that, but I assure you she would not have kicked me or the seats and cried for 15 minutes on a plane (nor anywhere else).

So I did not post about it, despite my secret feelings of being thrilled that this happened because I knew the MOEBOKs would be livid and outraged. Then, today I read this article where Air Tran reports that they have been overwhelmed with e mails and calls in support of their decision. 92% of the people contacting them were ok with what they did. See, those 92% have been on flights with those "bebe's kids". You know the ones; they sit behind you and kick your seat the whole time and even after you ask a parent politely to have them stop and get the snarly stare from the parent - it continues. The ones that are in front of you and climb on the seat and turn around rocking the seat like it is a rocking horse, while your drink takes a tumble - you know them. You know they exist. Satan's spawn, I call them. I also decided that it was a-ok to feel this way. I further felt justified when I read that they had checked her car seat in baggage claim!! Why didn't they bring it on and pop her little ass into it?

As parents we do a disservice to a child to allow them to behave this way. We do a disservice to a child and fail as parents when we raise them to think they can behave anyway they want and it is ok. Those parents become the helicopter parents you hear about. They are the ones that are still trying to take care of their adult kids lives, a very disturbing trend.

I have always been vocal about kids that "show their asses" as my mama and grandma used to say. I even advocate that restaurants should offer you "smoking or non'smoking" "kids or no kids" options (unless, of course, you are at a family oriented restaurant). Michael and I tried to have dinner at an upscale restaurant one evening that was not "family oriented". We were seated in a booth next to a lady with a little boy named "Ben" (evil Ben). They were waiting on hubby to get there. Ben squiremed and wiggled, he did not want to sit down, he would periodically just scream for fun and her entire time waiting was spent saying "Ben, please sit down, daddy is coming", "Ben, stop that and please honey stop yelling", "Ben, daddy will be here in a minute, please honey stop". I was so sick of Ben I wanted to reach across the aisle, snatch his ass up and pop him in the seat and tell him to sit there and be quiet but I can't. Although I am certain the other diners would have applauded. We were all already sharing eye rolls. Then daddy showed up. Ben got to do it all over again for daddy. Ben even took to walking the aisle and coming up to everyone's tables. (me: go away Ben you demon child, heal thyself). Finally, they brought their food. Woohoo, Ben will start eating and things will settle down. Two minutes into the meal Ben is in mom's lap. Ben then slams his hand down on the table and yelling a war cry - everyone jumped in the restaurant and looked - just in time to see mom's plate take a flying dive onto the floor. Mom said to Ben "Honey, look what has happened and gives dad an exasperated look". At that point, I was done. Through. Finito. Let's grab the bill and go - I cannot enjoy this freaking meal.

So all that to say, Air Tran you did a good thing. The parents of the 3 year old tantrum thrower need to get over it and quit expecting the rest of us to tolerate their ill behaved child. They say they refuse to ever fly Air Tran again - while I am already looking at flights on Air Tran for my next trip!!!

posted by Deb @ 2:25 PM