...is being the mother of that inconsolable child.
...and having the flight attendant threaten to return the plane to the departure gate and slap your two year old with a $2,000 fine for violating FAA regulations. My TWO year old....REALLY?!?!?
But when Russ and I just started at her not knowing how to respond, she prided herself on saying that she was just going to tell on us....to the PILOT. Oh no....not that.
But I saw a glimmer of hope in that because at least the flight attendant would LEAVE. And maybe the pilot would take a minute and come back and counsel us on how to negotiate with our two year old. Yeah lady, that's a great idea...tell on us.
Then, as she walked off, she said, "you're just gonna have to dish it out, you know" and slapped her hands together as if to indicate my TWO year old needed a good slapping.
So Russ calmly placed Ella in her seat and put her seat belt on. Unless you were sitting on that plane with us, you've never truly heard Ella scream. I was satisfied that her screams reached the pilot THROUGH the bullet proof door before the flight attendant could tattle on us. And I got even more satisfaction at seeing everyone within five rows of us flinch at the noise. Is that what you wanted lady?
Needless to say, Ella wasn't the only one in tears at that point. Sigh. Sometimes parenting isn't easy.
In defense of our not-so-courteous flight attendant, I completely understand she was just trying follow the rules (and I recognize that she was in a hard spot because she's responsible to enforce the rules). But nothing excuses any implication that my child needs to be slapped. Really, as a mother, of course I would prefer my child sat in her seat with her seat belt on. But at that moment, everything was working against us...including the flight attendant that got in Ella's face about violating FAA regulations (what part of that did she really expect Ella to understand?).
So the end of the story is we made it back home to Seattle with the support of two other flight attendants that said it was okay for Russ to hold Ella. I hope I don't get anyone in trouble for admitting that, but I'm glad there was someone who could see how distressed my baby girl was and sympathized with her.
6 comments:
Oh April, I am so sorry to hear that happened. So sad and difficult.
I'm glad you came for Christmas, and I'm glad that you made it back to Seattle. I'm so sorry to hear that the flight back wasn't very enjoyable. Flying with kids is stressful!
Geez. Someone needs to slap that flight attendant. That's what mom would say. ;)
Yuck. Glad that's over. And she really thought slapping her would make her behave BETTER? Hmm.
WoW!!! I have flown with Aryn 6 times now and have had nightmares of something like this happening. Fortunately, Aryn loves flying, and everyone has always been extremely understanding.
It breaks my heart to hear you had such an experience. I hope that flight attendant realizes she handled the situation badly and doesn't act like that again.
We had some fun on a recent flight as well. We were traveling with my sister and her baby and thus had four kids under the age of 4. By the last 20 minutes of our flight all the girls, Lilly, Susan (3 months), and Julia (8 months) were crying and mad. Lilly didn't want her seatbelt on either and was so tired. Ugh. I was glad we were at the back of the plane with no one behind us but I still felt bad. What a horrible experience! Parenting is tough sometimes and exhausting, to boot!
Post a Comment