Trapped on an 8 Hour Flight With Screaming Toddler

[radioguy6]

That right there justifies the cost for noise cancelling headphones. Screaming kids, loud talkers, people munching on food with their mouth open. NOPE you are all dead to me with the flip of a switch.

 

[Fish]

Luckily I dont think Ive had screaming kids on a plane with me, but Ive had the loud talkers and it drives me nuts. Or the guy that tried to sleep on my wifes arm next to us. Like WTF dude, put that dome in the aisle and get hit by the snack cart you stupid fuck. I blame his parents.

 

[Flyn]

I don't know that I am because my daughter wouldn't act that way and she's parented the same way. That's just not her. It wasn't me as a child either. I would nag the snot out of my parents for stuff until they were just utterly exhausted (and they still wouldn't cave). My little brother was more like my son.

All the people I talk to talk about how different their children are. It's something my mom has always said. I was the easy one. My older brother was a nightmare. He was an incredible handful for them at a young age and round about his mid-20's he just grew up. You'd have thought he was a product of poor parenting up until then though.

You know another thing to consider, we all went to a private school and my parents shelled out decent money for that yet not a single one of us graduated on graduation day. I was given a blank diploma and had to take another course in the summer to get my real diploma. The same goes for my older brother and the same for my younger. I joke around with my younger brother that I was 46 out of 46 in class ranking and he laughed because he was 44 out of 44.

Now my younger brother is successful, I like to think I am too and my older brother codes trading algorithms for hedge funds, all self-taught. No schooling. And it was all just our path. I told my mom - and both my brothers agree - there was nothing she could have done in high school to make me pass. Absolutely nothing. She took away my tv, she made teachers sign a slip stating whether or not I had homework, she called teachers at the school to find out when I had tests... There was just nothing she could have done. I didn't care. And yet people would likely unfairly judge her.

I realize I'm going off on a bit of a side store there but getting back to my kids, I noticed from a very young age how they acted. My son was always chill, even as a baby. My daughter wasn't. They are parented exactly the same now and my son is still calmer than her. It just is what it is. They respond to things differently because they are different human beings with different personalities. At age 10 if they're polite and well behaved or complete jerks then I'll own the good or the bad. But at 3? No, not so much. I think it can be the doing of the parents but it's certainly not a foregone conclusion that it is.

Mike, your mom was successful. You may disparage her methods and say they didn't work but they did. It takes a lonnnnggg time to develop a kid. If you guys remember, my kids haven't always been angels. My son, especially, had big issues as a kid. Amy and I kept giving him discipline and love and, finally, he understood the proper way to grow up. I give your mom credit for following through with good methods that paid off later in your life. Parents aren't always your friends but they are your parents and the good ones do what parents must. I doubt she enjoyed having to come down on you. I know I hated being "mean" to my kids but the results now were well worth the efforts then. It's the parents who don't make the years of efforts who lose the tough kids.

 

[nytebyte]

I agree with Mike's assessment. I've seen the same thing with family members in regards to raising children.

When a family member had their first kid, it was a girl and she was the spawn of Satan and pretty much stayed that way until she was in her late 20's. Then they had a boy and he was the opposite (well behaved and disciplined).

It's interesting that it's the females that are mostly the problem children.

 

[Kensington]

That right there justifies the cost for noise cancelling headphones. Screaming kids, loud talkers, people munching on food with their mouth open. NOPE you are all dead to me with the flip of a switch.

Noise cancelling won't do shit for that type of stuff. Drone yes, but that type of stuff not as much. It'll drown it a bit if they're over the ear and you're more than likely listening to something.

 

[radioguy6]

Noise cancelling won't do shit for that type of stuff. Drone yes, but that type of stuff not as much. It'll drown it a bit if they're over the ear and you're more than likely listening to something.

Seems to work for me . I have over the ear Bose NC headphones, usually accompanied with music too, but even without music it drowns out background noises pretty well. I mean its not complete silence, but an overall improvement. I also use them when working in datacenters where there can be 70-80dB of white noise. It drowns that out well enough where I can hold a phone conversation.

 

[Chet Donnelly]

I put the fear of God in my kids starting from the day they were born. Do they still throw tantrums sometimes, talk back sometimes, throw shit sometimes, etc? Absolutely they do.

But when it comes down to it, if I let them know they crossed the line and I'm pissed and the shit is about to hit the fan...the drama ends, and it ends fast! In this case, I'd give them a hard arm grab, tell them in an angry voice to sit down and be quiet...and they'd listen.

This has worked for my 7, 4, and 2 year olds....we'll see how it goes with the 11 month old once he is old enough to control his actions. I've done a 22 hour flight to Singapore when my oldest was 4, next was 1 (younger 2 weren't born yet). No issues.