hudsonvalleykim

I was feeling the JetBlues yesterday. It just so happens that my family has plans to fly JetBlue, and have you heard the news? A two-year-old had such a fit on one of their flights right before takeoff, the plane’s pilot removed her and her family from the plane.

My two-year-old often has mini tantrums and the occasional full-blown booger-spewing tear tornado too. If one of these seismic events occurs on the flight, will we have to land prematurely on a grassfield in Kentucky? Chances are all will be spared. Nonetheless, life is a mixed bag these days, and, now, it is possible we will alter a plane’s trajectory and be kicked off a flight.

So, is this all my fault?

Yes, according to Kimberly – 2068293 on the discussion board following an MSN-video about the incident . She writes, “This is nothing more than a lazy parent who has no better sense. And a child that’s use(d) to getting their way through the practice of tantrums,” and let’s not forget how “Parents are so permissive with their children that they do not listen and do not know how to behave in public. I understand that a two-year-old is very young, but even at two the child should have been taught how to behave and to listen to her parents,” writes JS in SD in the same discussion.

In fact, seventy-one percent of people side with JetBlue for its decision to remove the parents from the plane, according to a poll on MSN.
Personally, I liked DrainBramages comment:

If you have a two-year-old that can actually process your demands to calm down and oblige – you should either be extremely rich from selling/teaching your methods -    or just got damn lucky.

But really, the story has shaken me up, presenting me with a worst-case scenario for our upcoming flight and the realization that people really are judging me when my child is having a tantrum.

I’ve been asking questions like “Why won’t he listen to me? Do I need to set firmer limits and am I too soft on him? I know underneath it all, he is supersweet, so what am I doing wrong?” I have asked all of these questions before, but, hey, why not ask them again?

Who am I angry at? JetBlue? The 71%? Myself? How angry can I really be at people who just want to sit quietly on an airplane? I happen to be one of those people too! Truly, mostly I am angry at my two-year-old for having tantrums. I wish I were a better, more loving parent, but he is just so demanding sometimes. Will anything be different from now on? I will try to be firmer in the coming weeks before our upcoming flight, but he can be tough, and I don’t know if it will work…

I spend a lot of time with two-year-olds these days. We frequent sandboxes, jumping emporiums, and playspaces, and I have witnessed pretty much every two-year-old in our circle crash and burn at some point. The fury of toddlers varies but every one I know well has been unreasonable and completely self-centered at some point.

For our flight, we will bring the requisite toys, snacks, distractions, etc, but there still remains the superslight-hopefully infinitesimal chance that he will go ballistic. If he does, we will do our best to calm him down, hope we are not escorted off the plane, and have to chalk it off to one of those moments he is supposed to be having. I wish we wouldn’t have them, but when you have a two-year-old, life will sometimes throw you a tantrum.