The screaming child on the flight…

I do empathise with the parents of the screaming child though if they were reading this blog, they might think not.

The moment we boarded the plane, the child [prob under 2 years] was screaming, with intermittent breaks. The business class folks must be quite annoyed b’cos the baby’s screams were just behind their section. They would have heard it louder than those in back of plane.

The toddler refused to sleep and did not give her parents rest. Her screams were really unbearably loud and she has quite some lungs.

Both Mom and Dad could not contain her. Just the thought made me cringe. How can a less-than-2 year old be more in control than the combined 50 [or 60] some years of Mom and Dad?
All I could hear occasionally was Mom’s ‘no’ or ‘shshhshhh’. Dad was essentially quiet, except for a word here and there directed at Mommy.

As most of you know, I would start to think about parenting.

In the business world, if we keep on doing the same thing over and over, yet produce no results, either we or our boss would require us to abandon the approach or change strategy. If we do not, in fact, we might lose our jobs.

Oddly in parenting, young parents would do the same exact thing over and over again, even though they know there is no effectiveness.

Like a Mom [and Dad] who merely ‘talked’ to a strong willed child [‘no’s and ‘shhhshhh’] though they know ‘talking’ is not what the child responds to. They just would not try something different. They know there is no alternative method except a spank. In this case, doing something different may be more effective than doing the talk talk talk to no avail.

One good spanking would get the child screaming till she tires out and sleeps.

Ah well, the current parent generation who believes in being friends rather than authority, is not aware an entire flight was kept awake with their out-of-control child, or someone who has a horrible headache in a public area, could find no rest because some kid got out of hands.

I watched today a young Mom with 4 boys [15 months, 3 years, 5 and 6 years old thereabouts] – all of whom are super active. I empathise with poor Mom. She hardly could sit still for 10 or mins before one of the boys would need her attention.

I think, as a non parent, some might say I am being too naive. But then again, I have seen very well behaving kids because their parents took interests in their overall development, not just intellectual needs.
So, beyond friendship, parents owe their children a lot more…there should be sacrifice of personal convenience or desires / wants, direction, modelling respect for authority, being firm etc….