The Good, the Bad and the Mean

Would you glare at these two darling children? Maybe you would, say, if they were playing under your chair while you were waiting to be called to board the plane? Or if they were running in front of you at the airport, maybe screeching a little too loudly?

Maybe I would, too. But as the mother of these darling children, how far should I go to restrain my children in the airport when they are about to be cooped up for 2 hours (or 4, like when we're flying to Seattle) on the plane? I try to make sure they are not being too rude, or too loud, but I also want them to run and jump and play, since it's the only real exercise they are going to get all day.

In the Memphis airport, before Thanksgiving, I was particularly chastened when a grumpy overweight dark haired woman, in her late 50s early 60s, swiveled her head and glared at me, as if to turn me into stone. The kids were playing, actually pretty quietly, just under her seat. I shooed them out from under the seats and tried to think of some new ways to entertain them while we waited to board the plane, steeling myself for another period of forced enclosure, miles above the earth.

Our two flights back from Huntsville to Pittsburgh were mercifully uneventful. The crew on the second flight, from Detroit to Pittsburgh, was especially professional. They went through the cabin before the flight and encouraged passengers to spread out into the empty seats. They gave each of the kids a small packet with 2 cookies in it (even though there was no food or drink service on the flight), and they encouraged the kids to come meet the pilot at the end of the flight. In the pictures above they are posing with the Captain's hat on. They also got to pretend to "steer" the plane. Why can't more travelers in the airport be like this great crew? Even if you don't have kids, or you if you had them, but they are grown up now, isn't it better to pitch in and help everyone have a great flight? Don't we all owe something to the next generation, even if they didn't come forth from our loins?