Hitting is not tolerated, period, and will inevitably bring down the full wrath of mommy's swift hand. Likewise, when I grew up, I took a countless number of whoopings from my dad that I surely deserved and was all the better for.
My son currently is really good 99% of the time, but he occasionally throws a fit, particularly with teething (back molars coming in) that no amount of discipline can assuage. And it seems like it always happens in public, which is both embarrassing and frustrating, since parents anymore are in a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation, particularly with all the loony liberal types out there looking to sic the law on you. (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1394556/posts and http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085000/posts)
Now, at first glance, this current article implies (wrongly) that the child was removed simply for crying, to which I initially reacted. Of course, a more careful reading of it, along with the more-detailed post from Monday (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1771754/posts), makes it clear that the child was behaving extremely badly, and that the airline was justified in removing the family from the flight. But context is important. In fact, here is a similar story from March 2003 (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/862951/posts), which happened just before the Brits had a big 2004 Parliament debate about whether or not spanking should be outlawed altogether. (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1121099/posts)
HOWEVER, judging from Monday's original story, it seems to me that the airline staff were rude and less than professional in how they handled the situation, and that bears criticism.
Here's the relevant excerpt:
“I was trying to console her and the stewardess came over and said, ‘Did you buy that seat for her?’ remembers Ms. Kulesza, 31, who is four months pregnant. “I said yes, and she told me my daughter needs to sit in it. I told her I was trying.”
Moments later, an AirTran Airways employee armed with a walkie-talkie addressed Mr. Kulesza.
“Sir, you need to get her under control,” she said.
“We’re trying,” Mr. Kulesza noted.
The passengers, meanwhile, were quite understanding and one of them offered the toddler a lollipop, which she rejected. Then the walkie-talkie woman returned to the Kuleszas’ aisle and displayed the raw tact and diplomacy of Donald Trump.
“Sir, you need to get off the plane,” she announced.
“What?” a stunned Mr. Kulesza asked. “Are you serious?”
“Sir, you need to get off the plane now.”
They got off the plane, while their luggage and car seat flew on to Boston. In the terminal they were directed to an AirTran supervisor, who told the couple that the stewardess was uncomfortable “because you have an unruly child who struck a woman on board.”
Mr. Kulesza was incredulous. “That was her mother,” he explained. “She hit her on the arm. Lady, this is a 3-year-old child we’re talking about.”
“Sir, we don’t differentiate between 3 and 33,” the AirTran supervisor replied. Mr. Kulesza said the woman proceeded to lecture him about child discipline, and how she would never tolerate her children behaving in such a manner, at which point Mr. Kulesza said, “You really need to stop talking now.”
The couple were also told that, since they had been ejected from the plane, they were banned from flying with AirTran for 24 hours.
Now, rather than throwing gas on the fire, the flight attendant probably should have been a bit more sympathetic and helpful in trying to calm the girl rather than accusatory, and the AirTran supervisor should have just kept her opinions to herself, and helped arrange seats on the next available flight for the family rather than making them stay another 24 hours. That's just my opinion, and obviously there are plenty of other folks here who disagree, and that's fine.
But are the ad hominem attacks, slurs, and prejudgments that are typically more characteristic of the DUmmies really necessary here on this thread or is everyone just in a bad mood today? Just curious...
How helpful should the flight attendant have been? A lollipop didn't work. Should the flight attendant have tried to pick the girl up and put her in the seat? Can you say, "big, fat honkin' lawsuit?"
We're getting one side of the story in the excerpt, the parents' side. I imagine the whole truth is a bit different. I don't see where anyone but the parents acted poorly. The airline personnel may have been businesslike, but there is nothing to indicate they were rude or unprofessional. As for the Air Tran supervisor lecturing the father on childrearing, we have only his word. If she did it, she should apologize because it wasn't her place. But we have only his word for what happened after they left the plane.
Airliners sitting loaded at the gate are burning dollar bills. Again, how long should they have waited? Another fifteen minutes? All day? A business decision was called for and made.
As for slurs, in your parlance, I don't see any here. I have made no attacks on you. I have called the child a brat and the parents bad parents, and I stand by both. They are statements of fact. Any child that hits her mother and gets away with it is a brat. Any parent that allows a child to hit him or her is a bad parent. That the father admitted to DEFENDING the girl's reprehensible behavior to the Air Tran supervisor tells me all I need to know about his parenting. That the parents were angry because they were not allowed to inconvenience a hundred people for an indefinite period of time tells me all I need to know about the kind of "me, me, me, it's-all-about-ME" people these are. Those are opinions based on the facts as presented, not prejudgments.
And the fact that the parents chose to publicize the situation by running to the press just confirms by opinion of them. If my child had held up an entire airliner full of people due to her bad behavior and my unwillingness to parent, I would have slunk away in shame, not run to the nearest reporter to put my ineptitude on display.
But are the ad hominem attacks, slurs, and prejudgments that are typically more characteristic of the DUmmies really necessary here on this thread or is everyone just in a bad mood today? Just curious...
Wait, weren't you the one who dismissed another poster with a snide "Listen bub, come back and talk to me when you have your first child, and we'll see if you've had a change of heart" (ignoring the fact that many of us defending the airline do have children)?
If you want to accuse others of ad hominem attacks and prejudgments you really ought to avoid them yourself. Makes the moral high ground rather tough to capture. Have people said personal things they probably shouldn't have?
Sure, but you're among them.