I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but it's quite possible that I made my worst one yet last month when I decided not to buy Jake his own airline ticket. I made this decision on the fly (sorry for the bad pun) after learning how much it was going to cost to fly my whole family to North Carolina over Memorial Day weekend.
Incensed at the cost of the airfare I took an "I'll show them" attitude, declared Jake to be a lap baby and walked away pleased with the money I had just saved.
Turns out, it would have been worth spending the extra $300 on a seat for Jake. In fact, it would have been worth much, much more.
Cute as he may be when he's not being held for two straight hours, when he is forced to remain immobilized in your arms, he's no fun at all. In fact, he turns into "That Baby."
You know the one I mean. The baby who cries, screams, claws at his parents, pulls everyone's hair, throws food, toys, books and everything else within his reach on the floor, and occasionally peeks over his parent's seat to smile at the irritated passengers behind him.
The stewardess tried to woo him with pretzels. He threw them on the floor.
At one point I put him in the aisle and let him walk up and down the airplane. He touched the arms of everyone he passed, smiling up at them. Some smiled back, others yanked their arms away, still others just gave me dirty looks.
The moral of this sad tale? Spend the money. If your child is old enough to know that he doesn't want to held anymore, he's old enough to have a chair of his own. Your child will be happier, you'll be happier, and no one on the plane will be able to blame you for making a 2 hour flight feel as long as a trip around the world.
6 comments:
Ahhh . . . if only I'd known you were making that decision, I'd have passed along my words of wisdom. We decided to have an 18 month old Chloe sit in our lap on a flight to Orlando, rather than cough up the money to buy her a seat. Worst. Move. Ever. When we flew to Disney earlier this month we didn't even need to discuss whether or not to purchase Casey a seat of his own. We paid for a seat, lugged his car seat through the airport and strapped that into his airplane seat, and there he stayed. Worth every penny.
Huh. We paid for Ben's seat to the FLA at 15 months, and he spent most of the time screaming to get out and be held. Stupid Ben. And Stupid Delta for not having in-seat TVs. Which leads me to the two following flying tips:
Fly JetBlue whenever possible. Yes, throwing a kid in front of a TV is bad parenting, but nothing says quiet like DirecTV on a plane ride.
Spend the $40 or $50 on those car seat carrying bag things. Makes the airport experience soooooo much easier. We have two if you ever want to borrow one.
I hope that when you got off the plane you got sympathy rather than dirty looks. On our way back from Disney when psychoJoey was 2 (before diagnosis), right after September 11, he screamed so much and so loud that at first the flight crew let me get up with him and stand by the door. Then we had to sit down because the pilot couldn't hear the radio transmissions. I was the first off the plane, and to a one, everyone who got off while I was waiting for my other family members, asked me if I was ok and said it has happened to them.
Sometimes people don't suck - they surprise you!
Funny for me, but not for you. I am going to fly with my son for the first time and he is going to be 17 months. After reading your blog, I am going to definitely get his own seat. I can barely handle sitting in my own car listening to my son scream let alone have a whole plane of people giving me the stink eye!
Thanks for the advise!
Becky
www.billboardsetcinc.com
Отличная статья! большое спасибо автору за интересный материал. Удачи в развитии!!! :)
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