My Kids Are Grown; Now I Can Judge

Photo from Today show website

Well, here's a conundrum.

The beautiful family in the picture above consists of a set of beautiful parents (both medical doctors) and a set of beautiful daughters (one two-year-old, one three-year-old). You can see their whole story here, but if you don't have six minutes or fast download I'll summarize it:

The family was boarding a plane on its way back from vacation in the Turks and Caicos when the two-year-old threw a tantrum. She refused to be buckled into her seatbelt for "three to five minutes," and eventually the pilot wheeled the plane back to the gate and the family was booted off. The parents, understandably, were not happy with this decision, but almost three-fourths of the Today show viewers who voted in a poll agreed with the airline. The mom in this kerfuffle claims that no one on the plane was complaining--I don't want to burst her bubble, but that only means her fellow passengers were polite, not necessarily that they didn't mind the din.

As a mom, I certainly know the horrified helplessness that comes from being the adult component in a two-year-old's meltdown. There is nothing more mortifying than knowing that your child is out of control and that there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

As a traveler, though, I know that being cooped up in a cigar-shaped container with a screaming child and no way of escape is probably the worst way to say good-bye to the Turks and Caicos, and I probably would have given the captain an extra-hearty "Thank you!" as I left that flight.

This would never have happened in the MomQueenBee house, largely because vacationing in the Turks and Caicos was not such an option for us. (Seriously? People take their two children with a cumulative age of five on vacation in the Caribbean?)

More than that, though, was our complete aversion to having the young Boys create disturbances in public. I can't count the number of meals Husband and I ate "together" at restaurants with one of us shoveling down a meal while the other walked a wailing baby outside.

So here's a suggestion for the parents in this case: Next time, drive. Oh, don't drive to the Caribbean (it isn't good for your car's fuel system), but choose a vacation spot where you can arrive in your own transportation, transportation that can pull over when everyone needs a break and doesn't lock your toddlers in with judgmental strangers. When you want to go to the Turks and Caicos, leave the kiddos with Grandma. Everyone, including the kiddos and Grandma, will be happier.

If they absolutely positively have to be there overnight, send the kids FedEx.

What do you think?