feedback for "Toddlers on a Plane"

1. Not to mention...Airline staff....get over your selves.  Just as the world does not revolve around us and our children, the world does not revolve around  you.  Our children are not out to make you job miserable.  They are kids...they are learning to control them selves.  We are doing the best we can to keep them entertained, out of your hair and not disturb the other passengers.

   posted by : JuliansMom on 9/4/2007 at 1:15 PM Flag For Abuse

2. I don't meet to LOL at your misery... it's just that I've been there myself. "...each trip holds some new nadir of absurdity." — truly priceless.
   
   My own nadir may have been the time I flew without my 4-month old but had to pump in the airplane bathroom with two flight attendants pounding on the door complaining that I was taking too long!
   

   posted by : strollerbaby on 9/4/2007 at 2:46 PM Flag For Abuse

3. I'm one of those TSA folks who you see on the airport security check points, though at our airport we like to think we are pretty passenger friendly. Most of us either have children at home or have had them and even have grandchildren, and we make a real effort to assist parents with children. The problem most folks experience when flying with their children is self-inflicted as the result of a lack of discipline at home.
   
   You see children acting up all the time in stores, but think nothing of it. The difference is air travel is now a much more serious business since 9/11. In addition you can't walk away from some kid throwing a tantrum when you're bunched together at 35,000 feet.
   
   Not everyone thinks my child's fussing and whining is cute. Whether in the local super market or at the airport, I have a certain responsibility to my fellow shoppers/travelers to make sure my child is not disruptive. So do you.
   
   

   posted by : amapper on 9/5/2007 at 6:09 AM Flag For Abuse

4. amapper, I think you missed the point of the article (intentionally?), and I'm pretty sure your judgy tone wasn't really necessary.  The author wasn't at all trying to abdicate responsibility for her child while traveling.  She was making the point that airlines, airport security, and TSA folk generally seem to do everything possible to make it more difficult to travel with kids, which makes taking responsibility for one's child even more difficult.  If you really are a TSA person, how about addressing the need to take a non-walker's shoes off- while he's napping- to send them through X-ray, as mentioned in the article?  That's going to cause some issues that the parent has very little control of (cranky baby because- no nap), yet you would only tell that parent that they have a responsibility to mind their children and blame them for lack of discipline??  How about addressing the problems with who defines what a "reasonable" amount of formula or breast milk or baby food is?  You say your airport is passenger friendly- how would YOU have dealt with those situations as a TSA official?  And as a parent, how would you have dealt with those situations?    I think your post is a prime example of the author's point that travel personnel don't do anything to help parents, so "making sure their child is not disruptive" is far more difficult.

   posted by : Dwtintx on 9/5/2007 at 8:53 AM Flag For Abuse

5. Ditto ditto ditto Dwtintx.  Actually I am wondering if Amapper is being genuine since her/his post is really judgmental and blatantly insensitive.  If you really are a parent, do you truly believe that an infant will quit whining or fussing if properly trained and disciplined?  If so, you and I inhabit different universes.  Fill us in on how it is that you got your own offspring to behave impeccably at 35,000 feet - I'm sure some of us will be all ears.   My own pet peeve is along the lines of what was mentioned above - having to take shoes off an infant or even a toddler.  Worst came at the Phoenix aiport when my second born was fourteen months old.  TSA official said toddler had to remove shoes and go thru metal detector solo.  I had just gotten those little Velcro strips off when little one pushed away and ran thru metal detector.  Mother's instinct propelled me to run after him (thru detector) as TSA guys screamed after me and hauled me back.  Fortunately I caught my son, but I said I could not let him go thru without me - either one of them would have to hold him so he did not run off or I would carry him thru myself.    I hate discrimination as a rule.  But honestly I am all for a little "profiling" when it comes to TSA checks.  What are the odds that a one-year-old coming through with his mom is going to threaten our security?  Let sleeping babies lie.

   posted by : BBBGMOM on 9/6/2007 at 5:49 PM Flag For Abuse

6. The problem with pro-family profiling - and all profiling - is that it has been proven to be pretty ineffective, and there are enough zealots in the world that would gladly sacrifice their 6-month-olds for what they believe to be the greater good to make it a not very good idea to exempt babies.  The real problem is the ineffective way the U.S. conducts security checks overall; if security were improved, it would be much less troublesome for all travelers, including families.
   
   In the mean time, I think the family who flies once a year just has to deal with the hassle and look on the bright side that they will have a great story to tell as one of their souvenirs.  On the other hand, frequent fliers learn how to avoid hassle through experience.  I have flown with my now-13-month-old countless times, including on 3 trans-Atlantic trips, and I've figured out how to make it as easy as possible:  the one-hand folding stroller is worth every extra penny for frequent fliers, and (as the author mentioned) that safety card is a valuable source of entertainment ("Look, sweetie, at the people sliding down the slide!  Doesn't that look like fun?  Whee!").  We can't single-handedly change airline and TSA policies (and it's not advisable to try to persuade their personnel en route), but we can control what we do to make flying easiest for ourselves and our children.  Perhaps a follow-up article on how to avoid sabotaging your own travel experience is in order.
   
   

   posted by : lauralu on 9/8/2007 at 1:13 PM Flag For Abuse

7. I agree with the writer, the airline industry needs to jack up their info when it comes to travelling with kids. Equally, I think Lauralu is right to say we all need to figure out how to control what is still within our control when it comes to our kids and flying. How NOT to sabotage your own trip is certainly worth discussing. In a related point, I will most certainly be knocking out my 3-year-old with Benadryl when I embark on a December trip from Wyoming to Cape Town, South Africa. Parents who get all freaky over Benadryl, don't talk to me until you've taken your toddler on a  40-hour odyssey to see Grandma!! I get it with regard to infants, but please don't tell me I'm endangering my tot when she's 3-years' old and gets a tot of Beny. Matter of fact i just tried it and sadly it seems to do absolutely nothing for her. Neither hypes her up nor calms her down. So now I'm looking for the next step. BabyValium? Any tips from seriously-travelled moms?
   Mind you,if there is something good for tot-drugging the stupid FDA has probably already ripped it from the shelves...Lucky me to live in the good ole' US of A.
   
   

   posted by : crabmommy on 10/25/2007 at 3:56 PM Flag For Abuse

8. This sounds like a nightmare for parents, and a perfect opportunity for mothers to "invent" a business of pre-selected and safe babyfoods for the airlines - one that they can control for nutrition, and non-additives.   Obviously, the market is there, and parents, as well as children, need it. Why not invent it, and reap the rewards?

   posted by : pbr90 on 1/4/2008 at 8:17 PM Flag For Abuse

9. Ladies, I don't speak hyperbolically when I say that I just experienced the most hellacious 60-hr travel nightmare with my 3yr-old. Two words to strike off your travel list for good: United Airlines. Two more words: Denver Airport. Ah, but all the airlines are all truly ghastly! If you want to hear a tale of misery and disaster so severe I HAD TO OFFER PRIZES TO THE READERS, please visit me here:
   http://www.cookiemag.com/magazine/blogs/crabmommy/2008/02/frequent-flyers.html

   posted by : crabmommy on 2/11/2008 at 2:50 PM Flag For Abuse

10. I think that the only problem with pbr90's suggestion/pondering is that the guidelines aren't enforced uniformly, even at one airport, nor do they remain constant.
    
    I have not had the pleasure of traveling with my small child via airplane - however, the last three flights I have been on have had miserable little ones on them, who by the way, didn't appear to be miserable due to lack of discipline at home.  They were miserable due to the experience of travel, for varying reasons.  And the parents were stressed, likely at least in one case because one Mom's carefully packed babyfood was deemed "not babyfood" by a TSA agent.

    posted by : eh on 5/26/2009 at 12:36 PM Flag For Abuse

11. There's a simple solution.. FINALLY..
    
    http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx259/squaretie/bose-baby.jpg
    
    These updated noise canceling headphones really work..
    
    
    
    

    posted by : Rich on 6/26/2009 at 11:55 PM Flag For Abuse

12. I agree that at times the airlines have made things very difficult for me to travel with my little one. Once I was told that security will be taking all the juice and food that I packed because it was not in a reasonable amount. Did they honestly think that I was overfeeding my child? I had to argue with them for some minutes that the food I packed was appropriate for an eight hour flight. Turns out they only glanced at my ticket and thought that the initial one hour flight that gets me to a bigger airport so that we can hop onto another plan for seven hour was overlooked. Of course all this happened after a meltdown from my child who didn't want to take his shoes off and a further argument with the staff when my child would not walk through the metal detector solo. I felt so harassed and stressed before I even reached the terminal. All the while I received dirty looks from the security people and from other passengers who had to witness the embarrassing scene, not to mention the resentment over the delay to get us through security. I would also like to mention that I read all the rules for the security checkpoint very carefully to avoid any problems. I had all food, drinks, and medicine carefully set aside and pulled out of the bags so that they would be easily viewable and I only brought just enough of each. Really, for eight hours of flying with a two hour layover I had two juice boxes and a small bag of pretzels. I followed the guidelines to a "T" and was treated horribly anyway. I sure hope that the complaints that are filed are read and improvements are made.

    posted by : luvmykiddo on 7/6/2009 at 7:35 PM Flag For Abuse