Here’s the link to this story. I saw them on The Today Show this morning. Here’s the clip of that. What do you think? If you watched this clip, the family starts about 2 minutes in. Would you want to sit near this family?
Okay first of all, what’s going on with all these people getting kicked off airlines? This is getting to seem ridiculous. Are kids worse than they used to be or what? I raised two darling boys and believe it or not, I was never asked to leave anywhere.
Another thing I noticed with these parents were when they were trying to talk and tell their story, both their little girls were all over the place. They wouldn’t sit still and weren’t listening to the parents on iota. The mother just kept right on talking. What’s wrong with people? I wonder if this is why this little girl doesn’t mind? It seems she just doesn’t have to.
I’m not saying the airline was right or wrong but people getting kicked off airplanes is getting to be old news. What’s with this?
Is it so hard to behave during a flight? What about inconveniencing other people who may have missed a connecting flight because this airplane turned around? Do you think people are really developing such a “me” attitude that something like this doesn’t even bother these parents? They didn’t say they were sorry or anything. All they did was make a bunch of excuse. She’s two. She didn’t nap. I’d have been mortified had one of my boys acted like that.
Do you think someone should start an airline just serving families with children? Of if you don’t want to follow the rules, there should be one for that too? I mean really. What gives?
Us Girls..Our Views 
Yeah, I thought the older kid in that clip was in need of some impulse control, but honestly, the 2yo seemed pretty normal to me. (Keeping in mind that I don’t have sound.) Of course, as far as how they behaved on the plane, I would have had to be there to see exactly what they meant by “tantrum.”
Personally, I cannot relate to the idea of being unable to make a 2yo sit in a seat. But I’m not known as one of those sweet, tender, understanding moms. In any case, people should realize by now that they have to make their kid sit if they are going to be on a plane. You know that if the plane had taken off and their kid got thrown around and hurt, they would be suing like anything.
I guess there are two kinds of parents. The kind that says “sorry” when their kid disrupts other people’s lives, and the kind that says “move over, my kids are coming through.” And yes, I do think we may have more of the latter than we used to. But I also have to say that most kids I’ve been around are relatively well-behaved. Nobody’s perfect, but having to wrestle a child to get his seatbelt on is definitely the exception around here. When I see it, the first thing I think is that the kid may have special needs.
I just remembered the one and only time one of my kids resisted sitting in a safety seat. Miss E was about 15mos and she whined and attempted to physically stay out of her car seat. One swift whack on the diapered butt was all it took; neither she nor her sister ever tried that crap again. (And yes, we were in public, and no, I did not care.)
Traveling with kids are tough! Hunter’s been on a plane every yr since he was 6 months. I would say the 2’s were the toughest. When Hunter was 2, he didn’t want to stay in his seat at all. He didn’t want to sit down, didn’t want to be buckled. It was a long flight! On the way home he was overly tired and whiny & fussy it took some time for him to actually take a nap.
I think the flight attendants should be more understanding to these type of situations. I see no need to turn a plane around. When we book a flight we try to get the seats that are towards the back. That is usually the kid section. I would love it if they had an all family flight!! I believe that would cut back on the stress level of the parents.
This last trip we took this summer, Hunter was perfect! He enjoyed the takeoffs & actually fell asleep both ways. It’s always stressful when that time comes when we need to travel.
I really agree with you Jenny. Why not have a “family flight” once a day or so to popular places? It would relieve everyone’s stress level. I know some smaller places it might not pay but kids are going to be kids. I wouldn’t want to be next to chatty cathy on a flight either or my husband who would snore the whole trip.
We all really should learn some tolerance. I just found these girls spoiled rotten and they way the parents acted like nothing was wrong and kept right on talking showed me why these two are the way they are.
I think that in their defense, they probably felt like it would be worse to tell the kids off right there on camera. People tend to get uncomfortable seeing others publicly discipline their kids.
This also reminds me of the fuss over Octomom traveling to NY for an interview when her kids were 2.5. Everyone loves to hate Octomom, and there was no end to the criticism of her brood, but even all her kids put together weren’t as bad as some spoiled kids I’ve seen. I heard that the kids cried or sang or soiled their diapers on the plane – how terrible – but I didn’t hear that anyone fought to the death over having the seatbelt fastened.
I must say we did not attempt to go on a plane between my girls’ ages 1 and 5. We did take some long road trips (up to 12 driving hours per day when they were 2). They were really good travelers at that age. In fact, they were calm kids all around at that age. I have no idea why. It was NOT a predictor of easy times to come, LOL.
Did I misunderstand? They turned the plane around AFTER The child had calmed down and was buckled? What the heck???
I’ve never flown with Josh, so I have no frame of reference, but I have traveled with him. We drove to Pennsylvania when he was, I don’t know, 2? 3? He was tiny. Under 4. But he traveled very well. We brought plenty of things for him to do – books, games, coloring, etc., Plenty of snacks and whatnot. But the biggest thing was – I paid attention to his needs. Now I understand that you have to follow an airline’s schedule, but at the same time, can you maybe work with your child’s needs? When you schedule the flight, see if there’s one that goes off in the evening after she’s had her nap. Or schedule it first thing in the morning so she’s fresh. This mom commented that Natalie hadn’t had her nap, they’d been rushing around, the child was VERY tired… that’s a disaster waiting to happen when they’re that age!
I think it’s got as much to do with that kind of planning as it does discipline. And the fact that you KNOW that there are what, 100 other passengers watching your every move? Now mom and dad are beyond stressed, which doesn’t help things at all, it escalates the problem. A parent who generally spanks or uses other “harsh” tactics to get a tantrum under control may feel unable to use such a discipline in that situation, for fear that it will make things even worse.
I think there were two “at faults” here – parents who didn’t plan well and didn’t handle their child well, and an over-reactive airline pilot who considers a two-year old to be a “safety hazard”.
I would agree with you if I believed the parents’ side. But I thought the story was that they were holding her down but she was still screaming and fighting. Maybe the crew thought she might pull off her seatbelt any second. Maybe they thought the parents “holding her down” was not going to last through the entire time until the plane had reached a safe height. Depending on where they were, that might be a long time, as there may be a long line of other planes ahead of them on the runway. I’m also not sure the parents didn’t tick the crew off with antics of their own. The “can we go now” comment read to me like it came from an arrogant a-hole.
Why don’t they have optional child-safe seat belt lockers in planes – which the parent can unbuckle but a toddler cannot? That might solve this type of issue. (This is not the first time this sort of incident has made the news.)
You’re right about the timing, though. If you have a child who is like that without a nap, you make sure you’re not in that kind of situation when the child has not napped, if at all possible. Granted, sometimes it is not in one’s control.
I don’t know what to say after reading all those comments above. All of them make sense to me. My first reaction after reading the article and watching the video was, how they handle their children on the Today show. No clear message from the parents to the children at all that thhey had to sit calm for a few minutes. Just some half half attempt from the dad. And why were they on the Today show anyway. They did not make it look better for themselves. I would be so embarrassed. I assume (absolutely not sure) that the mom and dad were not clear to the kids at all at the plane. Of course the kids were tired etc. And when the threat of being kick out of the plane became serious, made them make the child sit and buckle up. But then it was “too late”. I also think the airline pilot wanted to set an example for future traveling parents: You better control your kids or you’re going to be kicked of the plane lol.
Lazy parenting. Thats exactally what this is. Sit your kid down and strap her in. Cover the buckle with your hand if you have to I mean come on!!!!! It’s not that hard. This woman needs to take some parenting classes.
Yet another example of “my lack of parenting skills” is someone elses’ fault.
The dad states the lesson learned here is, “control your child.” Clearly. I understand that a 2 year old isn’t always going to cooperate, however she’s 2, and in no way stronger than you. Put her in the seat and buckle her up. Maybe I’m just being naive to think you should be able to control a 20lb child. Don’t throw rocks at me! I’ve never had to deal with a kid throwing a full on tantrum in public. In my opinion kids have too much control over their parents.
I think having a “family flight” would be a great idea! But still, the child has to be buckled, no getting around that.
Nikki, you aren’t being naive in the least. One of the worst things a parent can do is train their child to understand that there are places they can get away with tantrums and places they can’t. Consistency is the key.
It appears with these parents they have been consistently slack.
When I was a kid way back when I remember hearing that kids on planes were wild and would act up. Maybe that’s what my parents told us to keep us in line. We had very strict rules to behave. We flew a fair amount and I remember for the most part we did behave. Our parents would give us fun projects to work on I think that probably did help.
I think the thing with me is we all see kids like this and they almost always have parents “like that.” These parents let these girls know that whatever they wanted to do, they could. They did nothing to try to get that older girl to sit still during this interview. IF they were afraid of disciplining in public and they knew their kids acted like this, why bring them on the show? It did nothing to help their case. If fact I think it hurt them. 71% of the people who called in said they sided with the airlines.
These are the same types kids who ruin dinners for us in restaurants and the kids yelling and screaming in Target. I don’t for one second think these girls only acted like this “sometimes.” It was just second nature for them to do what they wanted to do.
This is a side note but there’s a little girl I’d guess about 5 years old at Christopher’s swimming lessons. The very first day she got in the water and the mom left the pool area and the girl started to cry. So grandma took the girl out of the water and out to where the mom was and that little girl has never gone back in the water and not only that but she disrupts all the kids in the lessons and the mom carries her around and doesn’t do one thing to stop her. She pokes at kids in the water. She throws the life jackets in the water. The mom just laughs and acts like “what can I do?” She’s 5 years old and this mom is carrying her around! Don’t you think this little girl calls the shots at home?
I feel bad for kids like this. They really do crave and need discipline and consistency. If parents are wishy washy kids really don’t know what to do. If they’re allowed to misbehave, why not? This isn’t just about behaving on an airplane. These same kids crave attention as they get older and they ruin it for the kids who do follow the rules.
Yeah, five years old is way too old to get away with acting like that. I could see being understanding if the kid is afraid of the water, but then you still have to follow rules and let the other kids work on their lesson!
I have to admit though, there have been times when my kids have surprised me in a bad way. One thing is with Miss E – and this has happened at least 3 times. Each time she has had a new swim teacher who was a man, she has thrown a hissy fit. Since the nanny takes them to lessons, she calls me and I talk to Miss E who sounds truly distraught. However, as much as I feel bad doing it, I threaten her with punishment if she doesn’t hush up and join her swimming class. Once she gets in the water, she is fine and then doesn’t pitch a fit again for that teacher. (I always hope this is the last time she’ll do this, but so far, I can’t say whether we’re done with that or not.) On one hand, I know she really is freaked out about something. On the other hand, I know it’s irrational, and giving into an irrational fear is just going to reinforce it. So I get to be the meaney and my kid learns how to swim. I’m sure the other parents think my kid is horrible, and I can’t really blame them. But I promise it’s not because I indulge her. And, she absolutely loves swimming and has no fear of the water. It’s just one of those weird things.
As for the general attitude of “what can I do?” – I have to say that I don’t see a lot of that in real life around here. I read about it online all the time. “You can’t expect a child that age to behave.” But apparently most of the folks around here have not bought into that. Thank goodness!
Don’t you feel sorry for those girls’ teachers?
Can you imagine how they will behave in school?
I feel sorry for these girls in general. I also feel bad for the peers in their classes because they will surely never have any of the spotlight.
I believe the tantrum was worse that what is being reported in some sources… The Mom’s story keeps changing… Was it the “tantrum of her life”? or was it an everyday tantrum?
I have heard that the Mom was being beligerant – trying to keep the kid on her lap (despite rules that everyone else would have to follow – but hey – she’s a doctor, so a sense of entitlement is okay, right?).
The kids are BRATS. I can not believe this woman is a pediatrician. She doesn’t seem to know much about kids!
If I were the airline I would sue those parents for the wasted fuel, staffing costs and delay. The passangers should start a class action suit.
These ‘parents’ NEED parenting classes.