People Watching

So I took a trip this weekend that involved taking a plane ride. Since it was just me and little man at the airport and the on the flight I had the time to do some observing. Some people watching so to speak. I don't mean to sound like I was judging the whole time but there were some situations that I saw that left me shaking my head.


On the flight over, there was a young girl who I learned was 1 1/2 years old. The plane ride was about an hour and fifteen minutes. This little girl cried for about an hour and ten minutes. Now that was not what I was shaking my head at. I was disappointed in the people on the flight, shaking the heads and making rude comments about the situation. Do you know how hard it is to keep a small child contained in that little space? Not to mention the extra pressure on their ears. At this age their attention spans are not great. At this age discipline methods, bribery, and other tricks are not understood. So you people with your attitudes get over it, you will have children and grandchildren at some point and if not  well you were a child at some point too. If you dont like it then pay extra for an airline where you don't have to put up with it or invest in some good earphones. I had sympathy for the parents and even maintained my sympathy when the crying woke my sleeping baby up.

Then I over heard a conversation (okay i was being nosy) where women were talking about how they chose to have children later on in life. But then the conversation turned to how one of the women was justifying having an only child. Nothing is wrong with having an only child. If that is your plan then more power to you. But her justification was that her child loves being an only child so she didn't want to ruin that. I was confused. How do you know your child loves it if thats all they know? She ended with "my child loves being the center of attention." HMMMMM.....

Then I witnessed something that made me laugh only because it has happened to me. Its the akward moment where you realize that someone you know is sitting nearby on the plane. You are conflicted on saying hi or not because you don't want to be rude but really all you want to do is sleep and not have to sit and make conversation the entire time. The person in this case gave in and said hi but then I could tell regretted it after a few rounds of "where do i know you from."

Okay one last thing, a silly complaint, is that the airline I usually travel on has general first come first serve seating. They do a thing where families with small children get to board after the first group but before the last two. To me this should include the small children and their parents. Not small children, parents grandparents, aunts, uncles, and long lost cousins. I stood in the family with small children line because it was only my son and I. Behind me was a small boy with his parents, both grandparents, an aunt, and a cousin that all took advantage.

Here is my little one patiently waiting at the airport...