I was, of course, one of those people who judged parents with their kids when I was not a parent myself. I can remember sitting on plane rides, in particular, with a screaming kid and thinking to myself, "UGH, I will never allow my kids to scream on a plane! How rude for the rest of us!"
I say to myself back then - "HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!
That one really came back to bite me in the butt when we took our daughter, who was 1 1/2, to New Mexico last Christmas. This was her first plane ride.
We woke up the day after Christmas to a white out blizzard and were certain our flight would be cancelled. After checking the flight status all morning, our flight was on time as we headed to the airport. We must have made it through security, etc without a hitch because I simply do not remember any of this part of that trip.
What I do remember is boarding the plane, looking out the window and thinking there is no way we are taking off in this weather. We had used points to upgrade to first class for this leg of the flight and were excited to enjoy a rare luxury for a bit. We were armed with Snacks and Toys and Juice for Emma but what we could not prepare for was the 3 hours we would have to spend on the tarmac, simply WAITING!! The first leg of our trip was to be about 3 hours and we had just spent 3 hrs not even flying yet! I knew we were doomed!
Emma was ready to get up and move around, and you know that's a no-no when you are just sitting there! Once we finally took off, it took everything my husband and I had in us to keep her sitting on our laps happily. The rest of the flight must have been okay, I don't remember much. I do remember putting Emma on the floor in front of me and letting her play with toys. Oh the pre-kid me would have had a field day about that one! I put my child on the filthy airplane floor!!
Anyhoo..... the landing was just about the worst 45 minutes of our lives! Once Emma had to get back in my husbands lap, she was PISSED and then her ears started to hurt and the scream fest began!!
We were in first class too so the people around us were extra stuffy! I can remember this one man turning around and shooting my hubby a dirty look, to which the hubby replied "you think this is fun for us?"
Once we finally landed and had to haul all of our crap across the airport for the second leg of the flight - I collapsed into tears. I think it was part - i just listened to my daughter scream helplessly for 45 minutes, and part - Everyone on that plane hated us.
I can't believe the pre-kid me was so judgmental and it's amazing to me how judgmental non-parents can be!!
We have not gone on another trip since that awful experience but now that Emma is almost 3, we are hoping to give it another go! I hope we can be brave enough to actually go through with it and I hope this time I won't give a rats butt what all of the judges around me think!!
I leave you with a photo of Sally Screamer on said flight:
CLUELESS AND NON-JUDGEMENTAL
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