Leaving a child at the airport

[Longboardpedro]

I have 3 kids with my wife. She is from Germany but we live in the UK. She had tickets to head back to see family for new years.

Unfortunately my eldest daughter only had 2 months left on her passport so when they reached the final gate for departure, my eldest was turned away from flying.

I had to collect her and bring her home whilst my wife carried on with her trip to germany with the 2 other kids. My eldest was heartbroken.

I was shocked, as this is something I could never do. We either all go or no one goes is how I approach things but keen to get some feedback from other parents on their opinions if that was OK?

Nah I'm with your wife on this one. It's Christmas and she had family to see right? Perhaps elderly parents? (That might not have long left).

Maybe if she was under 8 I'd feel differently but otherwise, no contest I'm getting the flight.

‘It’s a rule he’s made up only for his wife to follow’. The OP doesn’t say that and there is absolutely no hint of that. I don’t think we know the OP is a man. It could be a same sex couple. You are assuming it’s a man and then making assumptions based on that.

Leaving a 9 year old alone in an airport is unacceptable to me.

I'm 100% certain that these replies would have been extremely different if the genders were reversed. Imagine the support a mother would get if she posted on here about her “selfish prick of a Husband who left their Daughter alone at the Airport regardless of Age!
I can’t abide double standards!

I would not have gone.

But thats me

I agree with you OP.
I wouldn't have left an upset 9 year old and taken the other 2 when it was my fault.

An illness prior prior to leaving is a different scenario.

I don't get the sense you resent having to look after your dd. Posters can be very quick to judge.

I really feel for your dd. It must have been a really stressful situation for her. I'm surprised at how few posters have taken a moment to appreciate how upsetting it must have been. Again, different if the error had been noticed earlier, there would have been discussion and preparation time for the 9 year old.

Surely OP’s point is that all planned travellers should go or all planned travellers stay. The plan was never for him to go - maybe so he could have a couple of childfree days, or maybe because he’s working or something!

I feel like you’re being unnecessarily hostile to the OP in a way you wouldn’t be if he wasn’t a bloke.

The first responses won’t be indicative of the norm. You’ll have more balance soon.

I agree. However it looks like we’re very much in the minority

The problem will be, as a 9 year old, they will think it’s something to do with them, their fault.

It’s the fault of the parent booking the flights and taking the child, that never checked. Both parents however are responsible for keeping these things up to date

The wife frequently travels to Germany, therefore it could probably have been rearranged quite easily.

The wife should have stayed, with the husband helping to arrange an apt at the passport office and getting a new one issued, rebook and fly together. Or, the husband sort out the child’s passport and fly over with the 9 yr old.

The route chosen left the 9 year old very upset. It singled her out when it’s the fault of the parents

OP you could have done more and your wife could have done more

I don't really understand these replies. I have two children, I'm from the UK and live in Germany. If I was heading home and realised one my children's passports were out of date, I'd be gutted not to see my family but I couldn't do that to my child at 9 years old. Not checking passports is not the child's fault. Unless a sick relative or something was waiting at the other side, I'd head home with the whole family and rebook for Easter.

I agree. We also don’t know if the OP is even male. It’s an assumption.

‘We either all go or no one goes’

Weird…you weren’t even going so by your logic, no-one should have been going 🫤 How does that work?

I'm with you OP too, I couldn't have left one of my children and got on the flight, absolutely not.

If you haven't already op you really need to look into this! It may not seem significant now while your kids are young & only travel to Europe for short visits but it will make work & travel in Europe so much easier for them when they're older!

Where does it say the child was left alone in the airport?

Give it time. I reckon we will be in the majority soon enough.

He mentions he’s a father in one of his replies

The OP is talking about the kids. Not leaving one kid behind.

Why are posters uses this to attack the OP??
It's obvious he means "all of those expecting to travel" they were literally at the airport! Not at the planning stage.

Oh yes. So he does. Thanks.

He's just dropped them there though so it's not like she had hours to wait presumably.

No difference to leaving your kid at school or sending them out to play. It's not like they're supervised all the time there either.

'Sit there for 30 min and your dad will come get you'. Kids usually have phones these days too.

Daunting for the poor little mite to be fair though. Parents definitely need to make it up to her.

I don't think I could leave the 9 yo and head off, but can imagine it was a very pressured moment and two other kids in arms probably not a calm space to think.

If she was turned away at the gate, it’s likely they’d been dropped at the airport a considerable period of time earlier. Depending on how close family live to airport there could well have been a bit of a wait.

She may not have shown it in the moment but my DD would have been distraught to have been left at that age.

It doesn’t but they were through security and he had to travel back. The assumption is she was left (presumably with airport staff). Could have been very traumatic for her, bless her. She might have felt really scared and abandoned. This might really damage their relationship but hopefully this is an otherwise attuned and caring mum who made a quick decision and will repair any damage done to the trust.