It is such a well known irritant: the crying baby on the plane. Everyone rolls their eyes and groans at the thought of being the unlucky passenger seated near an infant on a flight. Some people even go so far as to request seat changes to get away from the little cuties!
Personally, I have an opinion about this scenario that doesn’t seem popular in American society. I believe babies are members of society just as much as adults and should be accorded the same respect and consideration we would give our fellow grown-ups. Until everyone who gripes about crying babies stands up to the loud-mouthed, inappropriate grown jerks in life every single time, I think they should just shut up and stop heaping extra stress on those crying babies Mamas & Daddies.
Besides, babies can’t talk yet! The only way they can convey displeasure, discomfort, or unhappiness is to cry! You can’t really be mad at the little one for trying to let his parents know that he thinks this whole flying thing kind of sucks.
But maybe that’s just me.
In the meantime, if you’ve traveled with a baby on a plane I’m sure you’re familiar with the worry and concern that it will turn out to be YOUR precious bundle that becomes the source of so much irritation to the rest of your fellow passengers.
Well, I have to share with you something I saw on my trip to work last week. Early on in the boarding process, a young family came on board with their ADORABLE 11 week old baby girl. When the Mama got about 3 rows away from their assigned seats, she started handing little envelopes out to every person that was already in a seat, and leaving them on the as yet unoccupied seats.
Curious, I asked her what she was doing (after grinning and giggling at the baby, first, of course!).
That’s when she handed me one of the envelopes and I have to tell you – I was floored.
It’s probably one of the best PR jobs I’ve ever seen in my life. Talk about winning friends and influencing people! Dale Carnegie would have been SO proud!
So here it is:
Best PR Ever. Just sayin’.
Inside this tiny paper envelope is a pair of ear plugs, some chewing gum, and a packet of water soluble immune-boosting vitamins (the benefits of which are debatable, but the intent is perfect).
This Mama was so worried about how her little girl would react to her first ever airplane ride that she decided to make these packets up as a peace offering to her fellow passengers. She told me she’d seen the idea online, but what she saw online was a snack-sized Ziploc baggie filled with candies.
She told me “I thought ‘Hey, I can do better than that!'”
And she did! Turns out, her baby was as silent as a winter night on the flight and slept almost the whole way, but if little Charlotte had pitched a fit at any point?
I promise the surrounding passengers would have been helpful and supportive instead of surly and rude.
Until more people grow tolerant of babies and their limited conversational skills when unhappy, I think these are just brilliant little tokens for parents to use as a means of winning friends and allies when trapped in a tube for 6 hours.
Have you ever done anything like this? What did you put in your packet? What would you put in if you were to make these for your next flight?
By the way, I told Charlotte’s Mama that I was SO going to put this on my blog, but then forgot to give her my blog info! If you happen to know who I’m talking about, please let her know to stop by! And if you see this, Charlotte’s Mama, send me a message to claim credit! You and your family were wonderful to meet! Hope you had a great visit with family!
I have seen this too…it works great!! Even parents of small toddlers can benefit from attempting something like this.
I thought the same thing…but I’m drawing a blank on what I could give people to prepare them for JED! LOL Actually, he’s really very good on airplane rides, except for the part where he fights to run up and down the aisle the whole flight. My fellow Flight Attendants are usually NOT amused by this! 🙂 Maybe I should give out packages to the crew instead of the fellow passengers? Passengers overwhelmingly think he’s precious and amusing, so they’re not the ones we offend.
Actually, gifts for the flight crew is almost always a good idea, come to think of it. 😉
I’ve bought the passenger in front of us a drink after chase kicked her for most of the flight. I have also lost it.. Not my proudest moment but after 2 separate passengers complained about my kids during a delayed flight I could be heard very loudly telling them to scream and kick as much as they want because clearly my non stop attempts at entertaining them were not enough to make the other passengers on the plane happy. Curiously that was the last of the complaints
Oh, Vicki! I’m rolling with laughter over this one! Love that you bought the one lady a drink, and LOVE the response you had to the nasty passengers! You know, you may not think of it as one of your finer moments, but I think it was excellent. Sometimes when you’ve done everything you can to make a situation better and people are STILL complaining, you just have to point out the obvious…and if they get offended at that, well, they were offended anyway! Some people are just…impossible to deal with. Good for you! (And what did they expect on a delayed flight? Kids are not naturally inclined to being happy when confined for long stretches of time. Geez!)