To: Conservababe
I tend to agree with you here. I have two boys, 5 and 3, who are as well behaved as I could hope for,... most of the time. They are just like adults. They have good days and bad days, just like us all. My 3 year old is very active. Not hyperactive, just "all boy". While I know taking him on a 4 hour flight would be a nightmare, mainly because I know no child that age will sit quietly for that long, I also realize that I cannot predict how he will act any more than I can predict how the guy sitting next to me downing rum & cokes the whole flight will act. Some days he surprises me with how well he behaves. Other times, when he has no reason to, he is hell on wheels. Kids are just as moody and unpredictable as the rest of us. When they get excited about something, like riding on a plane, they can't control their actions as well as adults, but I submit that if you look around at the adults on a flight some time, you might see some who act worse than a toddler would.
I have been on flights where people turn up the volume of their radio & blast rap music through their headphones so loud people on the opposite end of the plane can hear. I have been on flights where some high-dollar business man swills drinks like his life depends on it and is so obnoxious that I want to toss his arse out with no parachute. I had a very large man sit next to me on a flight out west once that dozed off and snored so loud even the pilot could hear him.
People dog those of us with small kids for "not reigning them in" when they "bother" them, and in the same breath will start cursing or talking loud or about some subject we don't want to hear, all with no reservations whatsoever.
Of course parents are ultimately resonsible for the kids, but to say they should drug them to keep them from pissing off someone on a plane is irresponsible.
I harken to when my oldest child was a few weeks old & we took him into church services because there was no nursery at our church at the time. I used to fret over him crying & disturbing others when one day an elderly lady leaned up and told me not to worry about it. Later she told me that they used to have ALL kids in church and women would even breast feed infants right there in services and no one thought anything about it. It was a part of life and people weren't so uptight about being "disturbed" as they are now, especially where kids are concerned. I think it all goes back to so many seeing kids as property not as humans like our parents saw them. Unfortunately, a large part of society has no problem with aborting kids or packing them off to daycare or hire nannies so as to not inconvenience their lifestyles. They cannot understand when someone with a kid who is not sitting semi-comatose can't "control" the kid because they see them as a nuisance, not as a person. In their twisted view, kids should sit quietly until such time as the adult wants them to act in some other way. I dare say not one of these people would expect someone to treat them the way they want parents to treat kids when they percieve some "disturbance" going on.
IMHO, when you decide to have kids, you give up your past life and your attention is to be focused solely on them. Take some time for yourself and your spouse, but never forget they are your primary concern 24-7.
To: Littlejon
Well said.
To: Littlejon
Excellent post!
BUMP with enthusiasm.
22 posted on
11/13/2003 9:22:59 AM PST by
ItsOurTimeNow
("Forth now, and fear no darkness!")
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