While mums are busy flooding online forums with questions about what to pack in the first aid kit and whether prams are allowed in the cabin, other holidaymakers are bracing themselves beside them for the ordeal of flying. These days, it almost seems routine. If, in the past, some well-meaning soul would try to shame disgruntled passengers by insisting that children should be cherished, now airlines are being urged to create near-separated sections to keep families apart from those flying alone. When did things get to this point?
I wish you a pleasant flight!
At what moment did it become trendy to act as though your life doesn’t stop when you have a child? Go back to work, maintain an active social life, keep attending events, travel as much as you like no matter the childs age. Our mothers certainly didnt live such a glamorous existence, nor did they ever expect to. I can hardly picture a woman with a newborn dining in a nice restaurant in the 1960s. Even later than that, honestly. That would have been seen as odd and for good reason.
No matter how much anyone wants to gloss over it, a long journey with a child is stressful for both child and parent. To keep everyone comfortable, you really have to put in the effort. Thats what many people simply don’t want to do. The minute they set off on holiday, they switch off and let the children fend for themselves. Consequently, the rest of us just have to deal with it.
Everyone loves to travel in comfort, dont they? No ones willing to endure even a short flight of two hours in endless noise and mayhem after shelling out that sort of cash for a ticket. Passengers are quick to gripe even about the legroom, never mind if a five-year-old behind them is bent on discovering just how far the seat will rock back and forth. In all honesty, I dont remember seeing anyone respond to that with a smile and letting the child have a go.
The vanishing crèche.
I used to try and be polite. When a woman with a baby under one sat next to me, my heart sank. But it turned out that wasnt the worst of it the family had multiple children! They were sprawled in front, behind, and to all sides, handing out bottles and dummies across rows, shouting to each other, spreading their things everywhere. All that was left was for me to be unofficially adopted. Frankly, it was nothing short of uncomfortable. I was asked to hold this and that, never a please, and narrowly avoided being splashed with boiling water from their thermos several times. Absolutely brilliant! With nowhere to escape, I half-considered climbing out the window.
Another time, on a train, I witnessed another spectacle. A woman spent the entire 26-hour journey rehearsing for a parenting marathon with her four-year-old daughter. The poor woman was doing her best to keep the girl from disturbing anyone else. But what did it look like in the end? For the whole trip, it was, darling, shall we walk down here, sweetheart, shall we try this, lets look out the window, let’s do some drawing and then forty solid minutes of noisy colouring, debating each crayon and showing off every dog and cat they drew. You cant decide which is worse.
How can anyone blame you for thinking parents should just stay home until their kids are grown? Well, of course, if your child is so serene that drawing silently for three hours is an actual possibility, or theyll doze off with their nose in the sketchbook, fair play to you. But do children like that actually exist?
And thats not even mentioning babies who cry for the entire take-off, landing, and everything in between. Where there used to be perhaps one of them per flight, now youll find three or five. Plus their equally boisterous siblings, tumbling and shrieking up and down the aisle. You leave a flight like that as frazzled as when you boarded possibly more so.
I must stress, Im not part of the child-free camp. Ive taken trips with a small child too, though if Im honest, it was out of necessity. I just dont have the patience to tend to a child on my own holiday. We only started travelling once my son could count on his fingers and obey simple instructions like sit nicely here; dont touch anything. Which, lets face it, means sitting there waiting without needing to colour everything in sight. But thats not how most people go about it; they pack a full set of educational activities, insist on running about because its crucial for young bodies, and consider the job done.
