To not have apologised to people near us about my toddler's behaviour on plane ?

[yellowandredcar]

My toddler was just a bit fed up of travelling not silently sitting on the plane. She was a bit loud and excited at times. At times we had to keep telling her to sit down as she tried to stand on her seat. There were many other kids making noise too. We did our very best to keep her quiet and keep her happy. She cried occasionally and occasionally made some noise. It wasn't excessive but the amount you'd expect when there's a small child on a plane.

I noticed people looking and didn't feel like apologising because it was nothing extreme and also she wasn't encroaching on their space.

The man in front of me reclined his seat immediately before we even took off. So I didn't think he deserved any kind of apology about my kids making some noise occasionally.

Also, we were doing our best. We were not ignoring our children or allowing bad behaviour. So I don't see what I need to apologise for. I just ignored the looks but felt like they may have expected an apology. I could be wrong of course.

I have apologised in the past for my kids. If they've kicked the seat in front of it they walk into someone's path etc. but I don't think it's necessary to apologise for children not being silent for a couple of hour flight.

Would you just always apologise because you have a child with you who's made a noise ?

Child free /no loud drunk adult flights would probably be very successful!

Screeching kids on planes are a pain. {So are drunk belligerent adults}

This kid made the news- ''8 hrs of hell'' - the fellow passengers said the mother did nothing but say '''Calm down honey''.

You are aware no one forces you to travel by plane right?

Apologise for existing?! Nah, fuck that.

People looked at you cos they are nosey sods. Anyone who expects a plane full of people to pander to their unrealistic expectations should get a private jet or not fly at all.

Surprised by the reclining issue. Out of interest, what airline was it?

This.

It costs nothing to apologise for your child's annoying behaviour.

She was just responding to peoples repeated questions about the guy reclining his seat.

I think her point was that when travelling but public transport we have to put up with the public which includes energetic toddlers as well as dickheads who recline their seat whenever they feel like it. OP calmed her child and settled her down when needed, it wasn't like she let her run rampant for hours, she shouldn't have to apologise for them being a toddler. Anyone who thinks they are entitled to an apology in this scenario should take a private jet next time they travel.

She brought him up in her OP!

It depends on the plane. If it's a cramped space I wouldn't recline my seat unless it was a late flight & the person behing me also reclined.

You had no need to apologise for a child being a child OP

You said she kept 'banging on about' him.

Her 'banging on' was actually her responding to people then bringing him up.

If someone's child is being disruptive or loud, I don't know that I actually care whether or not they apologise. I'm more interested in whether or not they're taking every action possible to stop the noise or disruption.

In fact, if they weakly apologise without doing anything to attempt to stop the noise, that might very well annoy me more than if they'd said nothing. On the other hand, if I can see that they're honestly trying to reduce the noise, but without results, I might still be somewhat annoyed (at the situation), but at least I'm spared having to acknowledge the apology and pretend that all is well and it hasn't troubled me in the slightest.

I also said it was unrelated. If she wants to bang on about the bloke reclining his seat, maybe that should be a separate thread. Her banging on on this thread, as I said, seemed to be in the spirit of he did this, and therefore I didn't need to apologise - and she said as much:

The man in front of me reclined his seat immediately before we even took off. So I didn't think he deserved any kind of apology about my kids making some noise occasionally.

The vast bulk of her responses in this thread mention this man. If that's not banging on, I don't know what is. The fact she was "responding" to posters is irrelevant; she was responding on that side issue, not the issue of apology for her noisy toddler, which is what the thread is allegedly about.

I wouldn't expect you to apologise for normal kid behaviour, assuming you were doing your best to entertain them and keep them as quiet as possible. (Some parents just don't care). If you were letting them stand on seats though, that's not on.

I have children of my own so I can tolerate noise of children but if they were messing around and you weren’t seen to be telling them to stop then I’d find it rude. I had a child kick my chair throughout a flight and the parent seemed to encourage it just to annoy me rather than telling the child to be mindful/ stop doing it. I have always told my children not to kick the chairs in front of them.

Didn't the cabin crew didn't make him sit upright before take-off?

It is allowed but you have to out it upright for take off. But I do agree there really isn't a need to recline it that early unless perhaps they were tall or big and need the additional space.

I think you are overthinking this if still thinking about it now. Perhaps with hindsight and no longer being flustered you realise rhein behaviour perhaps wasn't in the normal range?

Kids make noise on planes. We all know this and we all know the more you fuss fuss, the worse they often get.

I'm curious as to when people are going to start demanding better behaviour off adults on planes?

I've encountered more problems off them than children.

Maybe someone got up at 4am to get to the airport and by the time the flight took off it was it was 'daytime' but they fancied a nap. Let's be honest most flights are pretty boring and if I can sleep most of the way I'm happy.

In economy there is little space left after someone has reclined. It’s actually quite unpleasant - so I don’t do it to other people and I don’t let my DC do it.

You don’t get to recline a train seat - so I don’t see the need. Once someone in front has reclined, it’s quite awkward for the person behind to squeeze past to use the loo. I saw a bloke squeeze past from the window seat after the other two people had got up and moved for him but he bumped the reclined seat in front and the woman seemed quite annoyed. One of those behind pointed out that if she hadn’t reclined it wouldn’t have happened.

I think it's simple courtesy to apologise if your child is disturbing others, even to a small degree. Not everyone likes , or is used to young children.

Some years ago I was on a plane with a child who seemed completely uncontrollable, standing on seats, then kicking the one in front. He managed to get himself away from his parents, bang the loo door open and shut repeatedly and then lock himself in. The cabin crew dealt with it brilliantly but it was horrific. And loud!

Of course you can recline on a day flight as long it's not during take off, landing or meal service.

I don't personally as I prefer to sit upright, however if the person in front of me did recline, I would recline also so I wasn't squashed. The person behind me could also do the same.

Dramatic much?

If there was an impending crash your seat would be upright and you'd be in the brace position

I'd pay for that long-haul tbh.

Behave! Children have just as much right as other people to travel

I seriously can't believe the amount of comments against children I read on mumsnet & where there often appears to be more tolerance of dogs.

I remember once taking one of my dc on a flight as a baby/toddler. I was on a row with two strangers and they ended up sleeping through the whole flight across all the seats ! The man had his feet on me and the lady her head. I was squashed in to the window with dd on my knee. Someone walked past towards the end of the flight and told me he didn't even realise a toddler was on the flight she was so good. He saw the couple and woke them up and gave them a telling off.
The stag do in front was louder than any child on board.

Last month I was on a flight without my dc and a couple were doing their best to manage a baby who just screamed and screamed for the whole 4 hours. Poor parents looked so stressed. I'm a bit older and more confident now so I ended up with the baby for a while. Didn't know the parents but they were relieved to hand baby over for a while.
There was a drunk man who got moved to the front due to bad behaviour.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that people young and old are annoying on flights. We have to accept that we share spaces with others and we won't always get on. Unless you are doing something deliberately or out of the realm of normal behaviour there is no need to apologise.