A question for parents
Dec. 14th, 2008 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgOn our bumpy 5 1/5hr flight from Brisbane to Perth, it was my fate to sit across the aisle from a mother, father, infant and toddler, all squeezed into 3 economy seats.
The kids ran through the usual range of kid behaviour, from angry screaming, to tired whimpering, to curious poking, and enthusiastic toy and lolly tossing. The father got to walk the aisles for a while when the toddler fell asleep across two seats. There were some protests during the enforced inactivity of turbulance.
I remember![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tikiwanderer writing not long ago that if you can distract other people's children on planes you would be doing them a service, but I couldn't pluck up the courage to engage in some naked hand puppet work. Parse those words carefully, people.
Later as we got off the plane I really wanted to tap the mother on the shoulder and tell her that I thought she and her partner had done a really good job of managing the kids. Not because the kids were "angels"--they most certainly were not--but that the parents had put in a consistent effort to keep them occupied and happy and I appreciated that effort. But again I lacked the courage to find the right words to express my thanks and admiration. I had smiled a few times at the mother during the flight, so perhaps that was enough.
So, my question for parents of small ones: How did I do? Should I have spoken up? Or was a bit of quiet support enough?
splanky wrote recently of bad supermarket behaviour by a rude man. I hope I did enough to distance myself from that kind of person.
The kids ran through the usual range of kid behaviour, from angry screaming, to tired whimpering, to curious poking, and enthusiastic toy and lolly tossing. The father got to walk the aisles for a while when the toddler fell asleep across two seats. There were some protests during the enforced inactivity of turbulance.
I remember
tikiwanderer writing not long ago that if you can distract other people's children on planes you would be doing them a service, but I couldn't pluck up the courage to engage in some naked hand puppet work. Parse those words carefully, people.Later as we got off the plane I really wanted to tap the mother on the shoulder and tell her that I thought she and her partner had done a really good job of managing the kids. Not because the kids were "angels"--they most certainly were not--but that the parents had put in a consistent effort to keep them occupied and happy and I appreciated that effort. But again I lacked the courage to find the right words to express my thanks and admiration. I had smiled a few times at the mother during the flight, so perhaps that was enough.
So, my question for parents of small ones: How did I do? Should I have spoken up? Or was a bit of quiet support enough?
splanky wrote recently of bad supermarket behaviour by a rude man. I hope I did enough to distance myself from that kind of person.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-14 02:05 pm (UTC)Kid-distraction is also good, when obviously welcomed by the child and done non-creepily. Butting in to play games when you're trying to put a fussy baby to sleep = not so welcomed, too. So that's just a matter of basic cue-following (or should be).
And basic practical help, though on a plane there's less you can do. Taking a finished tray or cup might be one example, to stop them having to juggle so many things in the tiny space.