I’ve blogged about childfree zones on airplanes and obnoxious children (and their ignorant parents) in movie theaters, and Jack Cafferty’s take on modern parenting and what it begets, not to mention the mommyblogger who admitted she allowed her child to kick the back of the airplane seat in front of him/her throughout an entire cross-country flight.  So, I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that one of my friends, perhaps we’ll call her The Instigator, forwarded an article to me today. 

It seems travel writer, Christopher Elliott, is having a hard time siding with his childed brethren on the subject of children on airplanes. 

Even though I have three children, I still can’t quite bring myself to siding with many parents, who seem to feel as if their kids should be able to fly anywhere, anytime and behave in any way they want to. (They’re kids, after all!)

Instead of just taking the “kids will be kids” approach and trying to ignore that a hell of a lot of parents refuse to actually act like parents, he gives us some suggestions:

1. Have “child only” sections on airplanes.
2. Have some flights deemed “adults only.”
3. Encourage responsible parenting.
4. Pass new airline seatbelt laws requiring all children to have a seat.
5. Ban all annoying people, no matter their age.

Child-only sections on airplanes would work for the annoyances like incessant seat-kicking, but doesn’t do much for the constant wailing.  I’ve never been on an airplane that was big enough that you couldn’t hear a loud, shrill noise from one end to the other, although I’ll certainly admit that the further away from the noise, the better.  My suggestion, however, would be that if there is a child on the aircraft, all passengers, except the child’s parents, be given free noise canceling headphones/earplugs.

Unfortunately, I don’t think adult-only flights are very likely.  While many people say they would be a bit more for that luxury, I just don’t see it being a viable option the airlines could afford to offer.

As for encouraging responsible parenting… ah, if only.  It would be nice if we could figure out how to do that generally, then people like Mr. Elliott could spend their time writing about more interesting travel topics. 

The seatbelt law on airplanes has always baffled me – like how there are no seatbelts on public transportation.  Kids have to be buckled in when they’re in private vehicles, but they don’t when they’re on buses, subways, or airplanes.  While I suppose one could argue that adults don’t have to be buckled in on buses or subways either, that’s certainly not so on an airplane.  So, why is it that a child doesn’t have to have his/her own seat and be belted in on a plane? 

And as for banning all annoying people no matter their age, just as with encouraging responsible parenting, you’ll get no argument from me.  However, while I have been on flights where a child has shrieked through the majority of the flight, I can honestly say I’ve never experienced similar behavior from an adult.  Don’t serve them too much alcohol (the same rule as at a bar) and that would certainly cut down on the problem.  You can also threaten them with some kind of “Homeland Security” repercussions and that will usually chill out an adult.  Not so with a problem child. 

There are possible solutions, although I think there would be a lot of parents up in arms about them, especially any attempt to segregate their precious angels to a certain part of the airplane or insist that they pay for a seat for the infant/toddler and strap him/her in like everyone else.

Anyone have any other viable solutions?

May 28th, 2009 | Category: Childfree, Travel | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL