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Passenger complains about mum reading with her child. Parents on planes just can’t win
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Opinion: Another day, another passenger throwing a tantrum about a child on a plane. Only this time, it wasn’t a screaming baby, there was no seat kicking, or running up and down aisles.
No. Instead, this traveller has kicked off a social media debate after calling out a mother who was reading with her child during a flight. Wait, what?
A mother has sparked debate over doing a reading lesson with her child in the air. iStock
That was my first thought when I read the complaint shared on the infamous ‘am I the a**hole’ thread on Reddit.
“I was on a plane when a mother and her child started doing out loud reading learning exercises,” the passenger shared in a lengthy post.
“The cabin lights were off and it was evening, maybe 8:30pm. After about 30 minutes I asked the parent if it would be okay if she and her daughter could take a break as people in the cabin are trying to rest.”
The poster then claimed the mother was “affronted” and she then called the cabin crew to ask if there were any spare seats the complaining passenger could sit in instead. There were none available.
“My perspective is that while children crying can’t be helped, that a plane isn’t an ideal place to do an out loud reading lesson with your child when the plane is full and people may not want to listen to the reading lesson for an extended period of time,” the post finished.
The post sparked over 2500 comments, with plenty of people calling the complaint “ridiculous”.
“How would this be different from two people just having a normal conversation? You basically told them they needed to stop talking. You can’t expect to sit in silence on a plane and have no one speak,” one comment read.
“That child could’ve been screaming, crying, being a pest. You’re lucky that mother was putting in the effort to teach her – of all things – to read,” another agreed.
A child can be disruptive on a flight for so many reasons, let parents do what they need to. iStock
Others agreed that a loud reading lesson (which the original poster claimed was not normal speaking level that could be heard through headphones) during a night time flight was bad etiquette.
“To be fair, when it’s a late flight it’s a bit of a social contract that you try not to be loud or disruptive,” one person said.
Another added: “If the plane is dark and quiet, and you’re the only one making noise, YOU ARE AN A**HOLE.”
While I tend to agree that once a plane switches into “night mode” you should as a passenger try your best to keep noise to a minimum. I don’t consider 8:30pm to be late enough to warrant this kind of outrage.
Not to mention the alternative. That child could have become restless, could have been getting upset, could have been jumping in the seat or kicking the seat in front of them.
It was doing none of those things. Instead, it was sat still and learning the alphabet.
Would you rather a rowdy child as the alternative? iStock
Most frustrating is the fact this is yet another example of how we seem to be living in an age where travellers have forgotten that planes are a form of PUBLIC transport, and parents travelling with children are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
Of course, if the time was closer to 11pm or midnight on the plane then speaking or reading loudly is considered bad manners.
In this case, it wasn’t, and perhaps if the passenger had just waited it out, the mum would have eventually packed up their reading materials and helped her child settle in for some rest along with everyone else.
As a parent who has been flying with my now toddler since she was nine months old, I will do anything to keep her comfortable and entertained and if that means reading a book with her out loud, you bet I’ll be doing just that.
If you end up sitting next to be and feel like you’ll have something to say. Just don’t. Things could be much worse. W-O-R-S-E. Worse!
