Posted on 05/08/2014 5:48:49 AM PDT by relictele
Is there anyone on the planet who wouldnt pay to avoid travelling with other peoples children? A survey has found that almost 70 per cent of travellers think planes should have child-free zones. Half of those would pay up to £63 extra to fly without children, especially on long-haul flights. I can see what they mean. Flying back from Italy recently, I had my back so thoroughly bruised by a small, restless boy that if King Herod were standing in the European elections, Id almost be tempted. Under normal circumstances, I like children an eccentricity which has led to my work as a childrens book reviewer. And naturally, I am devoted to my own. But other peoples children are, by and large, hell. The noise, tedium and energy of a child is something we accept only when in the grip of parental passion, professional vocation or martyrdom. Yet such is the modern mania for tolerating kids that we are afraid to utter a word of complaint, even when they come up and kick you in the shins for their own entertainment. Why do we accept it?
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I would have suggested the kid go play outside... :-)
Sigh...the humorless are now coming out in droves...
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LOL! Sorry, I should have seen the humor in a child being devoured by a pit bull!
Oh, go away.
Just recently I got in to a blow up with the woman I am dating. I had a six hour flight and told her I can’t stand being with babies and children on flights. It is miserable for both the babies and other passengers.
Run, go, shut the door, and be happy with your decision.
A pacifier works. The sucking helps "pop" their ears and relieve the pressure. (Been there, done that with small children.)
Barring that, benadryl.
I have three kids and 99% of time all have been well behaved in public. My youngest bucked on me at a restaurant when he was 3, he did it once. I literally dragged him out by the arm across the floor, took him to the van, drove behind the restaurant and set his a$$ on fire. Came back around and wife and other kids had paid bill and were waiting on me. Took him him and whipped his butt again and sat him on the couch in my office and flipped on the fox news channel and said don’t move until bed time. He didn’t.
A few months later we were at a pizza hut and were seated across from a family with a boy and girl and they were wild, throwing food, trashing table, yelling screaming and parents were just doing nothing but pleading. Finally after a few minutes of this my 3 yr. old says loud enough for the hellions parents to hear, Dad those two kids need their hinneys busted good! Both parents just looked our way and rounded up their horde, paid and quickly left.
I run the church sound system so my wife would be the one watching kids in church and she would not tolerate any cutting up or miss behavior in church. She would give one warning and then out they went to the front porch of the church for a dose of fire to their behinds. Our oldest was stubborn and hard headed and got several spankings on that front porch. On the last trip out the door as he was being taken out he was heard to say but Mom I don’t want a spanking! Other two had one or two trips to porch and got the message.
We currently have a bunch of parents who will let their children scream and talk during the church service with impunity, makes me want to scream. Some of the older members have quietly whispered in my presence, I wish so and so would let your wife take care of their kids for a couple of services and put a stop to this disruption and foolishness.
You can’t negotiate with kids and you can’t be friends with them, be their parents and if that means them being afraid of crossing a certain line, so be it. You can be friends when they get old.
I appreciate restaurants who are family friendly but that still doesn’t mean they or their other patrons should have to put up with other peoples hellions who will not behave in public.
Five hours. Five hours of nonstop talking, squirming, and climbing on me physically. But there was something about the little guy that I found fascinating and really sweet, and I sort of fell into patient mode. He'd nap for 10 minutes and than back at it again. Five hours.
So when we landed the little guy hugged me goodbye. And the flight attendants slipped me a bottle of wine. I felt like a million bucks. Sometimes it's just like that.
I am solidly with you. I pay the same for my ticket as everyone else. Nowhere on it does it say I have to endure ill bred out of control children. I have told more than one parent to get their spawn under control
My parents were the same. With 4 boys, if we acted up when out to dinner, we first got "the look". Most times that settled us down.
The second infraction was rewarded with a sharp rap across the knuckles with the back of a spoon. Of course today, that would result in family services getting involved and a night in jail for dad.
The third infraction resulted in dad hauling the offender, out to the car to sit quietly with our hands folded in our lap, while mom and the brothers finished dinner. Heaven helped you when we arrived home, cuz it resulted in an appointment with Mr. Belt.
Euros are the worst with permissive parenting. I am pretty sure they just have the kids for all the “free” time off and then when they hit about five, they check out.
If you think that a special needs child applies to ALL children in this category, you are mistaken. Special needs children are a whole forgiveable category. I doubt highly, however, that most of the problems are with “special needs” children, but on the contrary, with those who are simply undisciplined. And btw, simply because they may be on some meds does not disqualify them from certain behaviors in public. Additionally, one or two times does not make a problem child. You should know that we are speaking generally of undisciplined children. BTW, God Bless You!
Can’t argue with that. It is easier and more prolonged to simply charge for upgrades for all passengers willing to pay, rather than penalizing parents traveling with children.
This isn't about hate. It's about behavior and parenting.
If we assume the airlines’ goal is to maximize revenue, then the rest is just crunching the numbers. Air travel isn’t a necessity, per se, but it’s the only reasonable option in many travel situations. In addition, nobody expects it to be pleasant to start with. You expect it to be annoying at best and catastrophic at worst, but to get you from A to B a lot faster than the alternative means.
To me, this suggests that the pool of air travelers who would actually pay significantly to avoid children is small, probably much smaller than the number who *say* they would.
In the case of a restaurant, on the other hand, patronizing any particular one is completely voluntary. Eating out is something one expects to be pleasant, and there is little cost involved in avoiding factors one finds unpleasant. For example, I don’t like eating in places with loud music and/or television on. Customers could choose a no-children restaurant, in theory, without trading off any other value, and people with children have plenty of other options.
I’d rather travel with a 6 day old infant than an 18 month old.
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Thank you. Much appreciated, FRiend.
The kid looked like Obama. Pretty sure his parents weren’t married either.
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