• Okay, I’m gonna bite the bullet and say it. This is disheartening. I’m not one to clutch pearls, but come on. Would you say this about anyone else? Dogs? Cats? Anything at all? Do you understand how fucked up it is? I just don’t get it. It was the same in Reddit, and it’s fucking same in here. Why do you hate children? You don’t wanna have them, that’s fine. Why would you say these things?

      Maybe you’re joking. Even after assuming that you are, this is in poor taste and a fucked up thing to say.

      • As a parent of two boys, i feel that much of the annoyance of no-children-having people is due to parents not putting boundaries for children in place.

        Children scream because of attention. It means they are not getting it.

        Start walking around with the kid to calm it down. Its your job as a parent. You cannot stay seated and act like “what are you gonna do? They are children ! They scream!”

        No. You are a bad parent for letting them just scream.

        Having said that, babies sometimes just scream without reason. Perhaps, and I mean this, if you have a baby that is prone to doing this, do not travel in confined spaces, or dine at restaurants until that phase of screaming is over.

      • You can train dogs and cats to be quiet and sit still. Not all of them will be happy doing it for a long plane ride, but you can do it. Babies on the other hand? Babies don’t give a fuck.

        Hungry?

        Scream.

        Tired?

        Scream.

        Happy?

        Scream.

        Mad?

        Scream

        You can do everything right and the baby will still scream.

        See, I have this speculation that early humans were fucking dumb, had no object permanence, couldn’t keep track of their kids, and generally pretended they didn’t exist unless they were being annoying. So their babies had to fucking scream as loud as a firetruck for their parents to not lose them.

        That’s the other thing too. The sound of a crying baby will drive anyone who doesn’t have antisocial personality disorder or has been driven deaf by the wonders of childcare completely insane. Why? Because while the sheer volume of a baby’s scream might not be as loud as a barking dog on an objective decibel scale, but when it comes to perceptual decibel levels, babies are loud. Our hearing sensitivity varies based on pitch. The higher the pitch, the more sensitive our ears are. On top of that, our brains are hardwired to have a reaction to a screaming baby, which can manifest itself as irritation, annoyance, frustration, and other negative emotions, because our primitive monkey brains are screeching, “WHY WON’T YOU TAKE CARE OF BABY!?” but we can’t do anything because it’s not our baby.

        That’s why people like to make jokes about dead babies, infant abuse, etc. Because babies are annoying as hell and literally everything they do is designed to make sure we know they’re there at all times.

        Edit: AND ONE MORE THING, have you ever wondered how a parent can love their baby when it’s quiet but hate it when it’s awake? Yeah, that’s almost certainly a result of primitive humans trying to take advantage of the fact that the annoying poop demon was finally quiet and wasn’t ear-fucking their monkey brain into guilt-tripping them anymore, so that they could ditch their babies when they were sleeping. So you can probably thank the negligent, sociopathic protohumans for babies being annoying as shit.

        • I love this theory that early (and current) humans were so incompetently stupid that we evolved to fucking scream all the time just so they don’t walk away and forget us.

          Considering how many kids get left in locked cars in the summer, as well as no other species of animal has annoying ass babies I have to canonize this as the Truth.

          • Consider this as well: if you’re a primitive human and you have to take your baby somewhere, you’re going to be praying to whatever deity(s) you believe are watching over you that your baby understands the severity of the situation and doesn’t start screaming in the middle of the jungle. 'cause if it does, every predator in a 5 mile radius is going to hear your baby screaming and dinner bells will start going off in their heads. Our only major survival traits are our near-infinite stamina (if properly trained) and ability to magically fuse or deform useless objects into something useful. Additionally, the usefulness of both of those traits diminishes with the size of the group as a single human with a spear is far less likely to survive a tiger attack than two humans with spears. To put it another way, your baby will actively alert predators that you’re burdened with its existence and that you could be free food so that you get removed from the gene pool if you’re stupid or unlucky enough to travel alone.

  • I don’t think hours of noise canceling headphones are a realistic solution for everyone, like people with autism or sensitive ears.

    What we should have is a “children’s section” in the back of the plane. If your party only contains adults, then you can only book in the adult section until it’s filled, and same with parties that have kids. Parents don’t want to disrupt everyone, but imagine this on a longer bus or train ride!

    • When I bring my whole family somewhere I almost always book the farthest back on the plane I can. There doesn’t have to be specific sections… just people with common courtesy.

      but one thing I’m noticing as a common theme in these threads is that there’s an innate blame on the children/parents. Kids oftentimes CANNOT pop their ears due to how narrow their Eustachian tubes are. https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/flying-ears.html There can be cases where the baby’s ears actually tear if the Eustachian tubes are blocked due to a cold or something of that nature.

      The better answer is to just educate them in a friendly manner. If you do it tactfully then maybe junior will simmer down and everyone can move on without this passive aggressiveness we see in the photo. Giving the kid a bottle (if they’re that young) is often all that needs to happen to work the tubes open a little bit to relieve the pain.

      Now… if you’re a parent… and have a colicky little one… skip the plane if you can. You know your kid. If they’re not going to take to the plane well, then you’re just being a dick to everyone around you.

      • Anecdotally my spouse and I know this; our kids are just extremely energetic. We aren’t simply uneducated on how ears work, and getting unsolicited tips from childless people while already busy with our kids is just another stressor.

        Call me a dick if you want, but sometimes flying noisily is the only practical option. No we’re not going to drive cross country to grandma’s funeral.

        • Then maybe you shouldn’t go. It’s a funeral and they’re children. When my uncle died when I was young, my grandmother made me look at his dead body and it was terrible. I wish I had never gone to that fucking funeral. Nothing about it brought me any sort of closure and the only real memories I still have from going are purely negative.

          Children have no place in funerals.

        • We aren’t simply uneducated on how ears work, and getting unsolicited tips from childless people while already busy with our kids is just another stressor.

          Well… considering I have 2 kids. You can put your bullshit “tips from childless people” garbage argument away. The source of the information is irrelevant if the information is true regardless.

          Regardless that doesn’t negate the overall “common courtesy” theme of my post.

          •  explodicle   ( @explodicle@local106.com ) 
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            10 months ago

            I apologize if my reply came across as an attack against you personally. I thought you were suggesting that anyone reading your post (not just you) should go up to stressed out parents and explain how ears work.

            While other parents do sometimes chime in with unsolicited tips during stressful situations, they seem to (usually) be more aware of whether or not their actual information is relevant, and not just a distraction.

  • Maybe it’s different in the USA, but I’ve travelled a lot and don’t think I ever remember a long haul flight without multiple babies and young children. It’s just a fact of travelling.

    I recently did a 16hr flight solo and the other 3 seats in my row of 4 were parents and a toddler.

    That’s just part of flying and you should plan for it (noise cancelling headphones, sleeping tablets, ear plugs).

    • We’ve flown a lot in the US with our now 2 year old to visit family, and have never had anyone say anything to us on a flight in a negative way. We’ve had a lot of people tell us how great our son did even if he got a little fussy here and there. We’ve flown first class with him several times and no issues.

      I’d say we’re lucky that he is a little rockstar and handles it very well, but it is definitely stressful for us but just part of what we have to do sometimes to see family. I feel terrible for people that have to do longer haul flights with smaller kids though, 2-3 hours is manageable but if we had family overseas we would probably fork over the cash to fly people to us rather than put him on a plane for that long. For our sake more than his lol.

  • This is one of those things I see people complain about everyone complaining. Like vegans or CrossFit people. I’ve met far more people complaining about complaints than actual incidents.

    Most of us get it. It’s kids. I’ve seen obviously not emotional support animals brought in by asshats. Kids aren’t my concern.

    •  ThePac   ( @ThePac@lemmy.ml ) 
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      10 months ago

      Kids these days (Yes, I said that unironically) can’t be assed to deal with any amount of discomfort. They’ve had a childhood of screens put in front of them so they don’t have to deal with boredom and other shit that just ruins a person’s ability to operate in society.

      Grow the fuck up and deal with it.

      EDIT: So apparently people are reading this like I’m talking about the crying babies. I’m talking about the ridiculous, pseudo-child-free adults who can’t believe a baby might have trouble while flying and god forbid they should hear it cry.

      • You mean their brains have been wired from an early age to be addicted to short-form content and never tolerate moments with nothing happening because they were given unfettered access to the internet and the psychological manipulation from big corporations that comes with it?

        They’re just supposed to grow up and deal with that? How?

        •  ThePac   ( @ThePac@lemmy.ml ) 
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          210 months ago

          They’re just supposed to grow up and deal with that?

          Literally yes. I’m sure the process might be different for each person, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask that people learn to deal with the world around them instead of expecting the world to bend to their complaints at every discomfort. It won’t.

          • Mental disorders relating to attention have skyrocketed in recent years, most likely due to the influence of social media on young minds. This shit is causing actual brain damage to these poor children because they don’t know any better and their parents won’t limit their screen time. You can’t put that all on the kid.

    •  UID_Zero   ( @UID_Zero@infosec.pub ) 
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      210 months ago

      I’m thankful that my kids fly well, and always have. We flew with them at ~15 months with no issues.

      I’ve always heard the complaints about screaming infants and whatnot…but I’ve never seen it. Granted, I don’t fly too often (and less so more recently), but I’ve never had the “classic” kid crying through the entire flight. It just doesn’t happen as often as people think. I’m sure when it does happen that it’s pretty f’n annoying, though.

      • People in business class or first class are almost never rich. Sky mile programs, travel credit card point programs, gaming point relationships between airlines and affiliates can make business and first quite affordable. And for when it can’t be affordable, if someone is paying for it, it’s not usually for luxury. I try to always send my wife at least business class so she is treated MUCH more as a human being than she normally has been in coach, as she is a minority and disabled. Rich people charter planes or own them. Those in business class are usually people who just plan ahead better than you. And if you’re jealous of that, then you’re a jealous piece of something.

      • Usually, yes. Stay home or have a sitter or nanny. If it’s a family emergency or tragedy, benedryl for the child before the flight. Do NOT change the child outside of the plane’s lavatory. Premium economy, not business class, as premium has some perks for bringing your baby, is more affordable than business class. Daytime flights if possible. Red-eye’s people want to sleep. Be prepared, binkies, blankets, diapers, quiet toys, etc. Try to fly when you will have the most energy, hard to parent if you yourself are sleeping from exhaustion. (not always a choice, we know.) Insure your flight. If the baby is sick, colic, or especially if it has inner ear problems, don’t go or again, arrange care for the child. No need to make the baby suffer, and in turn making you and everyone else miserable, too. Many people will not be kind if the child wasn’t feeling well and kept them up 14 hours, which will be hard on you in addition to your own exhaustion.

      • Up to you. May or may not go well for you. While I won’t do anything to you except an unkind look, you don’t know who else we’re flying with and what they might be going through. You really want to risk you or your child’s well being just be right? Have you seen the crazy’s on planes lately? I’ll tell you this, if someone does read you the riot act or worse, I sure as hell won’t come to your aid. And despite wanting to film such a happening to see you miserable or worse, I won’t, because I won’t want to contribute to giving you evidence you could use against your attacker(s). If you think it’s terrible I wouldn’t try to protect your baby, not my fault you were such a terrible parent that the child would have been better off being aborted than being your child.

  • Spends hundreds of euros on a flight. Cant buy a noise cancelling heqdphone or earphone. I kinda assume a babys gonna cry when i fly because 200 people closed in an aluminium cylinder together isnt the most pleasant experience.

    • Noise cancelling headphones don’t work against babies. They are designed for cancelling ambient sound by playing frequencies to cancel out the noise, but can’t predict sudden noises like children crying very well. Earplugs or earbuds do a better job at drowning those out by plugging your ears from outside noises

      • This is correct. I’m baffled by the amount of people making false claims as to the efficacy of noise cancelling headphones. Why are so many people pulling that shit straight out of their ass?

        Noise cancelling headphones use destructive interference. Essentially, they play sounds that are designed to bring high pressure to your ears when the sound they’re trying to cancel is bringing low pressure and vice versa, so the sum of air pressures adds up to something closer to a normal atmospheric pressure and the sound is quieter overall. In order to do that, it needs to be able to at least kind of guess what sounds will play when.

        • Cause they are entitled parents that think just because they can content with their own child, everyone else around them should too.

          It is not like they are the ones using noise cancelling headphones in planes.