January 2015 Moms

Parents made goodie bags for fellow passengers with an "I'm sorry" note from their infant

edited December 2014 in January 2015 Moms
I saw this article today on Facebook and thought I would share since many of you are planning on traveling soon after your LOs are born.

At first I thought it was a little crazy to go through all that trouble, but I see the point behind it.

*not that I'm suggesting anyone do this.
I'm just curious to read what all of you STMs think about it.

https://insider.foxnews.com/2014/12/14/parents-flying-infant-bring-gift-bags-their-fellow-passengers
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Re: Parents made goodie bags for fellow passengers with an "I'm sorry" note from their infant

  • I think it is a nice touch, but unnecessary. Do your best to keep baby/child quiet, but shit happens ;)

    Agreed, even if you gave me a snack I will still be irritated if your baby cries the entire flight. I realize stuff happens too, eg I would never ask someone to try to quiet their child because obviously they have no control, but a little goodie bag really isn't going to change anything for me so I don't think you need to bother.
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  • I will say the one time I flew with an infant, she was good most of the time but landing was difficult. I kept her nursing (under a nursing cover so I wouldn't have to hear anyone complain) during take off and landing and she did end up falling asleep on one of the landings. I had nice people around me though, and she only cried for maybe 2-3 mins. The nursing really helped. She was 8 months.
  • I've seen this before and not sure why this particular instance is going viral... Parents have been doing this for years! What's so special about this instance?
  • We made these bags. (Not the specific ones in this article)

    In our instance, it worked out perfectly. We sat across from two younger guys from France. They spoke to DS and played peek a boo with him the entire flight. We let everyone off the flight before us, because there is so much luggage involved with a 1 year old. Every single person told DS 'bye bye' and 'Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas.' He LOVED it. He waved and learned how to say 'Bye Bye'


    I had no idea how DS would act. I chose to do this because it was something I could control and it was easy for me.

    That being said the time I attempted this alone with DS and I, and all of our luggage, it was way more hassle than it was worth.
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  • With DS 's first trip he was just over a year. I didn't make goody bags but did explain to the people around us that he had never been on a flight before and that my husband and I would do what we could to keep him entertained.
    He had only one crying fit and fell asleep from it.
    No one seemed irratated and people commented on how good he was at the end of the flight.
  • If people don't want a crying child on a flight then either don't fly or go on a child free flight.
  • It's cute in theory - but if I could afford to make goodie bags for 70 people, maybe I'd fly private. Ok maybe it doesnt cost that much, but I dont see the 350lb man who spills over into my seat apologizing to anyone or someone flying with a cold who coughs the whole way. Or otherwise obnoxious flyers who are more annoying that a baby fussying

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  • I think goody bags are overkill.  It's harder on the parents than it is on the passengers when the baby is crying, IMO.  There is so much airplane noise, you really can't hear a crying baby enough to be bothered by them unless you are sitting within a few rows of the child (or unless you are an asshole who would be bothered by any kind of noise period).  DS1 threw a fit on an airplane once when he was around 18mths, it was miserable for me, but the passengers around didn't even bat an eye.  You just do what you can in that situation, but I always feel terrible for the parent of the kid when I hear a baby crying.  No parent wants to listen to their baby scream, especially when you are so worried about bothering other people.
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  • Having to apologize for having a baby on a plane really grinds my gears. I took my daugher on a flight when she was about 18 months - Security helds us up to search the diaper bag because I forgot there were bubbles in there ( liquid more than 3 OZ  - we were at the beach !) and they tested it, made us the last people to board the plane.  The flight was full of course and the only spots we could sit were individual spots. Did anyone move so that my husband and I could juggle a baby together? NO-  they did not. In fact the only open seat was the middle between a huge fat man and a very large woman. Did either move in so I could have the aisle or window since I had to hold a wiggly toddler? NO - of course not. Then my daughter wanted to nurse, for her ears I assume, which was good because she did fall asleep but it was no easy task cradling her on my lap when both heavy people overlapped my arm-rests and could see down my blouse the entire time. I was so angry by the time the flight ended that I do not care WHO I offend on a plane in the future

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  • A crying baby or toddler doesn't bother me so long as the parent is TRYING to distract or prevent it. It's the parents that just put in their headphones and keep reading while their child is losing it that drive me insane!
  • We flew with dd when she was 15months and she did ok. She was still nursing and slept a lot. We flew this past summer when she was over 2 and she flipped out. Most people around us were understanding but the ladies in front of us kept huffing and puffing and saying things like "really?? I can't believe this!" I felt bad, but it's not like we were ignoring her. She's 2 and acts like a 2 year old. The crying only lasted a little bit.. Maybe 10 minutes out of a 4 hour flight. She settled down after that.
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  • I flew with DS several times when he was young (probably 5-10 separate flights before he was 2), both alone and with H. I never gave out goodie bags, but I did always carry a bunch of earplugs with me. Before take-off, I'd stand up and say hi to everyone sitting around me, introduce my son and give his age, and let everyone know that while he is normally a happy guy, he may cry. I'd offer earplugs to anyone who wanted them. 

    Only once did anyone take me up on this. 

    Generally, people would smile and laugh and show that they were able to relate, and it seemed to favor good will from the other passengers if DS did end up fussing at all. Like, people weren't as likely to get irate about his fussing because they knew I was trying, I guess? 

    It might not be so cute now that DS is 3.5yo. But when he was just 6 months old, everyone just gave us a pass.
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  • Like I said, it was something I knew I could control and I thought it was a cute idea. Unlike my 1 year old, who I wasn't sure would be so keen on any distractions. Luckily he was very happy the entire flight. We've only recently started having problems with flying, mostly because he's scared now when he wasn't before and wants to be held.

    Anticipating a meltdown is par for the course with a one year old, at least in my experience. I don't see it as some huge parenting fail, but if you don't want to do this then it's pretty obviously not necessary.
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