Wednesday, January 24, 2007

And the whole plane applauded...

I found this on yahoo and thought is was fabulous! I will comment at the end:


ORLANDO, Fla. - AirTran Airways on Tuesday defended its decision to remove a Massachusetts couple from a flight after their crying 3-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff.

AirTran officials said they followed Federal Aviation Administration rules that children age 2 and above must have their own seat and be wearing a seat belt upon takeoff.

"The flight was already delayed 15 minutes and in fairness to the other 112 passengers on the plane, the crew made an operational decision to remove the family," AirTran spokeswoman Judy Graham-Weaver said.

Julie and Gerry Kulesza, who were headed home to Boston on Jan. 14 from Fort Myers, said they just needed a little more time to calm their daughter, Elly.

"We weren't given an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything," Julie Kulesza said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

The Kuleszas said they told a flight attendant they had paid for their daughter's seat, but asked whether she could sit in her mother's lap. The request was denied.

She was removed because "she was climbing under the seat and hitting the parents and wouldn't get in her seat" during boarding, Graham-Weaver said.

The Orlando-based carrier reimbursed the family $595.80, the cost of the three tickets, and the Kuleszas flew home the next day.

They also were offered three roundtrip tickets anywhere the airline flies, Graham-Weaver said.

The father said his family would never fly AirTran again.


I applaud the airline! This is a prime example of the serious lack of parental control that our society has these days. The child is three years old for heavens sake!

Yes I know three year old can throw a whopper of a temper tantrum but you know what I am bigger! When I was a nanny I told my little girl, who had a thing for throwing herself to the floor in a temper tantrum, that I had had many more years to develop stubborness and I would win. I always did.

Why is it that nowadays so many households are ruled by the children? This is why we have so many disrespectful children because it derives from the behavior allowed at home. Barely anyone under the age of 18 understands what authority figures are these days. This is our future...I cringe at that thought.

My children are going to be disciplined freaks in a world of chaos. Now I am not saying all children are like this three year old but after 12 years of working with families and children, 75% of the families I have met, the children ruled the household.
I had a two year old I kept who's mother could not get her to go to sleep at a decent hour and would usually fall asleep in the bed before the child. The first night I kept her I asked the mother what an ideal time would be since 11:30pm was not going to happen in my stead. She said 8:30 but in an "it is not going to happen" manner.
That child was asleep by 8:40. When the mother came home at 10 and was amazed the little girl had been asleep for almost a hour and a half I had to bite my tongue to not say "I am the adult." And no I did not beat, tie up or sedate the child as people have joshed to me over the years. I just told the little girl that it was time for bed and I would lay with her until she went to sleep but if she got up or refused to go to sleep then she would have to lay by herself. I established that my word was law in a gentle but nonmoving way.

Is that so hard?

I have had people tell me " well it is different when it is your child" and I want to answer " you are right because then I will have even more responsibility and control over their actions than children that I am just keeping."

I could go on a soapbox for hours about this topic, starting with the disolvance of the family due to mother's working and being to tired to deal with their children therefore let them get away with things that they might not if the mother was not exhausted. Also because the mother is exhausted meals turn into McDonalds and teaching time turns into television, computers, and video games instead of one on one time.

I appreciate mothers who can balance both and applaud mothers who take time to be involved to an intimate level in their childrens lives. Lime and Breazy are these types of mothers and I am glad to always read about their "mom " adventures because it shows me there are still people out their that realize they are the adult.

Thank heavens the airline realized they were the adult...to bad those parent's don't.

3 comments:

Breazy said...

Thank you so much for the positive mention ! I saw this couple on Good Morning America yesterday and the parents told that the child never acted that way and the reason she did that morning was due to an ear infection. While the mother was talking the child became rambunctious and Robin Roberts/Diane Sawyer (I can't remember which one was interviewing the parents..heehee) mentioned that . After the interview GMA had a specialist on to explain discipline rules to use to help your child behave better .

Had I been one of those parents I would have been humiliated because of my childs actions . If one of my children want to act up whether it is public or not then they do face the consequences of their action . If we are in public and tantrum comes about then we take a quick trip to the bathroom for some attitude adjustment and believe me , it always works!

Thanks for doing this post , I enjoyed it !

Anonymous said...

i guess all those times i drug you out of church yelling don't spank me mama, don't spank me paid off, it almost killed me, but i did get the point across and yes i am still bigger and i will win--lol

lime said...

thanks for the compliment. i appreciate it. i only heard bits and pieces about this case but having flown with children many many times i can say that it is somewhat special circumstances. my kids have always been disciplined and they know acting up in public will cause them bigger problems than acting up privately.

toddlers and babies on airplanes are an aespciallay tough situation. i've been on flights with screaming kids and it is awful because there is no escape for anyone. there can be a lot of earpain for a child too and if they have a cold or infection is it worse because of the pressure changes. i've also been on flights where we sat on the tarmac for literally hours due to some delay and the stewardesses would not allow anyone to even get out of their seat to use the toilet...hard enough for an adult but impossible for young children just learning control of bladders, etc. i feel for the other poeple flying, for the airline who has to get everyone in a safe position before takeoff, and for the parents and child.