Fear Unfounded

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The concerns about wind and rain delaying the flight didn't pan out. Air France #39 is pulling away from Dulles gate #42 as we speak. We be cool. Two wailing babies in my section. Isn't it fair to put crying babies and their parents in the luggage area below the seats? I'm speaking as a father of two boys. I've been there. I used to be mortified when my kids disturbed others.

comment #1

T. Holly says ...

Make sure you spend lots of time with Glenn Kenny when you get there.

comment #2

Rich S. says ...

"I used to be mortified when my kids disturbed others." That's the attitude that I think is sorely lacking in a lot of parents today. My dad used to hate it when my sister and I embarrassed him and my mother.

Now when I go to restaurants, etc., there are kids running around everywhere and babies screaming their heads off. Not all are like that, of course, but it seems like there are more than in the past.

comment #3

Aris P says ...

This has always confounded me: why dont parents just give these kids a sedative? It doesnt have to be a xanax, just something. i dont know. Like gravol, or a tumbler of whiskey rubbed on their gums. Whats wrong with that? My grandmother used to do that to me all the time apparently. Parents should grow a pair once in a while.

comment #4

Josh Massey says ...

"...it seems like there are more than in the past."

There's absolutely more of that than in the past, just like there's more talking in movie theaters, and other forms of general rudeness. I don't know if its technology making people more self-absorbed, or another kind of general cultural shift, but I'm already - at 32 - sounding like an old man. "When I was younger..."

comment #5

York "Budd" Durden says ...

The real problem is that, where can it all go but downhill from here?

I was raised as a proper Southern gentleman, and am consistently horrified not only at much of the so-called entertainment being produced, but by the general comportment of people (and not just kids, either--I'm talking about my contemporaries).

What's the line from NCFOM? Ed Tom says something about how when you stop hearing "sir" and "ma'am" you know you're in trouble. I know that sounds kind of fuddy-duddy, but it is the way I feel.

comment #6

gansibele says ...

Yes, drug the kids. What could possibly be wrong with that?

If you can't stand kids crying, then don't fly or pay for first class, you cheapskate. If you are embarrased by what your babies do naturally (I'm not talking about 10-year-old brats, I'm talking about babies who cry because of the pressure in their ears) then you should not become a parent and if you already are, give them up for adoption. They'll be better off.

I much rather hear kids crying that crybabies complaining about them. It's a plane flight, not a freakin' spa. You are already herded like cattle stuffed in a tiny space for nine hours and you are complaining about babies? Personally, my philosophy has always been that my kids well being is much more important that what some self-important ahole thinks of my parenting.

comment #7

Josh Massey says ...

If my kids have too much energy and need to run around, by God I'll let them! If you didn't want to deal with them, you shouldn't have come to this bar!

comment #8

alynch says ...

Eh-em, FUCK KIDS!

comment #9

scooterzz says ...

nice one jm.....

comment #10

D.Z. says ...

California Republicans tend to be more moderate than their Southern counterparts, but http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_el_pr/moveon_ad
is interesting, nonetheless.

comment #11

frankbooth says ...

Comments vanishing into black hole. Testing, one-two-three...

comment #12

frankbooth says ...

Looks like I'm not banned. You can all rest easy.

comment #13

Mgmax says ...

There's more kids traveling because there's more of EVERYBODY traveling these days. Kids didn't travel in the 60s because taking a family of four to Europe would have cost the equivalent in today's money of $15,000 or something, instead of $2-3000.

I actually tried giving my youngest child Benadryl to knock him out before a flight to Mexico, it just ended wiring him instead. The only really effective thing to do is to know your kids, don't take them anywhere they can't handle the flying time (that's why we went to Mexico, not Australia), give a baby a bottle right at takeoff and landing (so their ears keep popping), and have 50 different ways to keep them entertained. I did that numerous times, and I can safely say that they were never the MOST obnoxious passengers on any flight.

Actually, the most obnoxious passengers were the ones who, spotting a child on a flight, immediately develop an attitude that suggests that your child is expected to be utterly silent and still or else. Of course, they're usually the ones to pester the stewardess over something every ten minutes, too. It's the big babies who are the real pain...

comment #14

Monument says ...

What irritates me the most is not the children themselves, but the parents. Kids are kids, they get upset, noisy etc... and sometimes they just act up.

But why can't modern parents actually parent their kids? There's nothing worse than watching an adult kneel down and try to reason with a four year old who's throwing a fit. The worst kids are those who are disciplined with time-outs, I can spot them a mile away as they are consistently the worst behaved children.

comment #15

Mgmax says ...

So what are you suggesting, putting out your cigarette on them?

comment #16

Monument says ...

No, more like a happy medium. I'm not suggesting that people beat their kids, but a smack on the ass and some stern words do a lot more good than harm, in my opinion.

comment #17

gansibele says ...

Yeah, and when a smack on the ass doesn't work anymore, then a good punch to the mouth or a kick in the nuts will. Get real. I come from a culture that condones physical punishment above all, but all I've seen from kids being spanked in public is a terrorized kid that now is crying even harder. Physical punishment is lazy parenting.

comment #18

Monument says ...

You have no children.

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