Traveling with kids can be incredibly difficult. Taking a baby on a plane isn’t easy, and opinions are divided on whether it’s harder to be a parent taking a child on a flight or to share a plane with parents and their children. Wait, maybe it’s being a parent on a plane with strangers judging and complaining about your baby?
Twitter users have been having this very debate for a long time, and it gets contentious, hilarious, and occasionally heartwarming.
Here are some of the best and most recent tweets about traveling with kids we’ve found on X.
Parenting While Traveling Is Shockingly Different From Parenting At Home
That first trip with a baby is guaranteed to bring surprises. You don’t realize until you get on the road (or in the air) that your laid-back, quiet baby can scream like that. And sure, parents are the ones responsible for being prepared to deal with screaming, ear-popping, and other difficulties, but there’s a first trip for everyone.
Travel Changes Significantly With Babies
If we’re being honest, we can be downright deluded as parents about exactly what to expect. If the last time we were on a plane was before there was a baby, it’s easy to forget that it won’t be the same now or ever again.
But no, there’s not likely to be a whole lot of relaxing and watching movies with the baby along, unless maybe they’re Disney movies.
It’s Really A Heavy Experience
Not to mention that you’re exhausted from lugging everything a baby needs by the time you’ve made it to the plane. A portable crib or playpen, a week’s worth of diapers, twice as many changes of clothes as anyone else on the trip, a stroller, a car seat, breast pumps and/or cans of formula.
Is it any wonder that by the time parents board a flight they’re the ones in need of a nap?
Family Travel Is Expensive
Parents with their babies are also paying customers. Not only are they paying for seats like every other passenger, but there are often additional fees for being allowed to sit together with their child, not to mention the baggage fees for all that extra luggage the baby requires. Traveling with kids is exhausting, often frustrating, and more expensive!
There Are So Many Amenities! Too Bad If They Don’t Work For You
Then there are the extra struggles — babies that are between sizes so can’t use either a bassinet or a seatbelt, for instance. And, of course, well-meaning family members and strangers offering their ideas and advice.
Why does everyone think they have all the answers for other people’s children when they don’t even have all the information?
Nobody Sees The Prep Work
Strangers will complain about parents and babies on airplanes, but they really have no idea how much prep work goes into traveling with an infant. Let me assure you, those moms didn’t just hop in a plane seat without thinking ahead.
No, they’ve been downloading Netflix shows, double-checking that the headphones work (but watch — one pair will suddenly stop mid-flight anyway), packing snacks, and doing everything in their power to prepare for the most peaceful trip.
The Solutions Are Limited
As parents, we’ve walked out of restaurants, movie theaters, grocery stores, sporting events, and even our older kids’ school plays or award or graduation ceremonies when the baby started to cry and couldn’t be calmed quickly.
We know it’s our job to remove the overstimulated child from the situation and give everyone else’s ears a break, but you can’t walk off an airplane. Parents can only do their best in the space allotted, while other people get understandably frustrated and sometimes unreasonably angry or nasty.
We Know Crying Is Loud And Annoying
At least some folks can keep their sense of humor! Nobody is excited to hear a baby scream, including the parents. The difference is that everyone else on the flight will be free of the sound after landing.
Still, people have to understand that nobody is just allowing babies to cry because they don’t care. The parents are burnt out and out of solutions too.
Babies Are Passengers Too
Okay, maybe not every trip is necessary, but plenty of them are, and even if it’s a vacation, families have the right to travel like anyone else. And no, leaving the baby at home is generally not an option.
Nor is leaving the kid in the cargo hold or putting him in the overhead compartment. A baby is a human and goes where the humans go.
The Pre-travel Guilt Trip
At this point, parents are so afraid of backlash and bad-tempered fellow travelers that they think they owe pre-emptive apologies before the plane even leaves the ground.
“I’m so sorry that I brought along a small human who doesn’t yet understand travel conventions and might cry if he’s scared, uncomfortable, or in pain. Please forgive him for not knowing how to express himself in English yet, and forgive me for daring to think I could both reproduce and exist in public.”
Babies Existing In Public Are Too Much For Some Folk
In what world are we putting babies on a whole separate airplane?
Okay, trains can have quiet cars, and there are child-free restaurants, so asking for an adults-only flight isn’t necessarily the worst demand. But you have to know if it seemed like it would be profitable, airlines would already be offering it, and there would probably be a premium price.
People Are Really Blatant About The Baby Hate
Okay, not everybody chooses to have a baby, but every human being on this planet was once a baby, and others put up with our crying in turn. Part of being an adult is understanding that the next generation of humans gets their turn at being a baby and small child, too.
By the way, babies feel no shame; you cannot mean-mug them into compliance.
Where Do People Even Get These Ideas?
Imagine thinking you can somehow prevent a baby from crying by asking a doctor for a guarantee. Every pediatrician I know would gently explain to any parent who tried it that crying is developmentally normal. It’s too bad they can’t join us on the trip to explain it to other people.
And imagine deciding that there should be fines for crying! That’s wrong on so many levels.
Comparison Tripping
As parents are quick to point out, some of the people griping are the same ones who might be inconveniencing others on the plane, too. At least no one is allergic to babies!
Maybe those separate flights for people who don’t want to be around babies aren’t such an awful idea after all.
No-Win Situation
It turns out that even when parents find a way to ease the baby’s comfort and make him happy, their fellow travelers will complain about noisy laughter too.
And what? An infant, who literally doesn’t even yet have the awareness that other people exist, is disregarding other people? You don’t say!
Okay, We Get It, Noise Is Upsetting
Honestly, even people who are normally very good with babies and tolerant of their noise can be overwhelmed by the sound of one crying in an enclosed place. And it’s fair to recognize that they’re also stuck and can’t exactly get up and leave the plane to escape the noise.
Understanding is a two-way street, and when people acknowledge that it’s their own struggle with noise, and not the baby’s fault, there’s a step towards a middle ground.
Who’s Being Childish Here?
By contrast, the adult who tries to pull out a “but he started it!” argument to suggest that their bad behavior should be accepted because an infant doesn’t know better is in a league of his own.
Sorry, sir, the baby is also allowed to poop in his pants and suck on his mama’s finger, did you want those privileges as well?
Babies Are Not The Worst Travelers
One thing that the most frequent fliers (the two who run the Twitter account above are flight attendants) can agree on, though, is that babies are by no means the worst offenders for plane bad behavior.
Babies are at least loud, not rude, obnoxious, or unkind. You definitely won’t catch them making crude remarks about the flight attendants or drinking too much and passing out on the plane (or at least, if they do, it’s milk, and everyone is happy about it).
In Fact, The Complainers Might Take The Prize
Some travelers say those who throw ostentatious tantrums about babies on the flight are even a bigger annoyance than the crying.
Again, it must be emphasized that, unlike babies, adults are generally expected to know better, and unlike babies, they should be capable of using their words or utilizing tools like headphones or earplugs.
The Oversharer Gets A Ribbon Too
Many frequent fliers say that adult dramatics are more annoying on a plane than a baby.
Comedian and author Paula Poundstone says she’d rather hear a baby screaming than listen to a braggadocious adult making sure the whole plane is aware of their own importance.
Honorable Mentions In The Worst Co-Traveler Category
There is a whole list of traveler types who act up on public transport, and unlike the baby, adults should know better than to engage in some of these behaviors. Imagine being an adult who kicks the seat in front of you or invades other people’s sitting space.
Legitimate Fear
Honestly, nobody on the plane had as legitimate a set of complaints as the infant. At least everyone else had a notion of what to expect and climbed aboard willingly.
If you found yourself in mid-takeoff with no idea what an airplane was, you’d probably cry, too.
Thankfully, Some Folks Understand
We can all be thankful adults like this exist. It’s a blessing that there are pediatricians, grandmas, and others who board a plane and not only understand that kids exist but also take joy in their company.
Also, isn’t it amazing how kids seem to have radar for them? I do not doubt that this pediatrician has toddlers lined up to show off their favorite toys every time she boards a flight.
Some Fellow Travelers Are Downright Heroic
Not all heroes wear capes, but thankfully, some of them do fly. It sounds like this mom sure met one in a difficult situation.
This is a classic case of someone recognizing that everyone around them is fighting their own battles — in this case, this mom didn’t even know she was beginning the journey of a twin pregnancy. A stranger certainly didn’t know either, but he knew she was struggling and stepped in to do what he could.
May we all encounter people like this man in our most challenging parenting moments.
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