This post is not about the child, more about the mother on a flight I took the other day.

Long:

I unfortunately sat in front of a toddler yesterday on a 4-hour flight. The entire time - from boarding all the way to deplaning - the toddler was kicking the seat, kicking his mother, slapping his mother, and screaming as loud as he possibly could. His mother was yelling back at him phrases like “shut your damn mouth!” to “you know what just scream since everyone else is annoyed I suppose I could make this hilarious (what the actual hell?) and I’m done telling you to knock it off” to “I asked you to stop kicking me so stop.” When none of these worked (surprise, surprise) she tried reasoning empty threats to the kid (“Do you want me to spank you? Then stop!”) The intensity of the kids meltdowns did not diminish. Also, she didn’t spank him (showing a pattern of imploring a threat with no consequence). These two were so loud you could hear them eight seats away.

The mother, while buckled in her seat, had the audacity to scream to the other adults around her “oh boo boo you apparently don’t remember being a toddler you don’t have a right to be upset about my angel screaming!” While descending, the attendant was trying to talk to me. When I asked her to repeat herself over the screaming child for the sixth time, the mother of this child -unwarranted- began trying to get my attention by screaming, “ha to the guy sitting in front of us! Suck it! Since you apparently hate toddlers I will no longer quiet my little Ezra!” I had not spoken or looked at the mom, but feigned deafness. She clearly needed a punching bag to release her anger and I was not going to give her the satisfaction. The flight attendant walked away. As I was leaving my seat to exit the aircraft, she screamed “that guy hates kids!” as loud as she could. The other passengers were avoiding eye contact at all costs with me or her.

This child is already slapping his mother around and is clearly used to throwing temper tantrums to get what he wants at home. The mother then projects her misery on people around her. She either lacks self-awareness, knows she is a terrible parent, or both.

The point of my post? If you know you cannot control your child on public transit THEN DO NOT FLY. I think this mother knows she can’t control her child but chose to inconvenience us all anyways.