"Sylvain" wrote

personally, I'd rather see all kids (say under 18), sedated, in
properly setup crates (water supply, very absorbant ground cover)
shipped in the cargo hold with other large pets.

I'm sure that this was written (I hope, at least) very much tongue in cheek,
based upon some children misbehaving on flights that you have been on.

The first flight my wife and I took our children on was at ages about 4 and
6, going to Disneyland. They were perfectly behaved on the whole flight. We
flew a time or two a year, throughout their young and teen years, enjoying
adventures as a close and loving family. I have never been embarrassed on a
flight, or in a restaurant with them.

Part, and I would say a large part, of the ability to pull off taking
children in public, is firm guidelines, rules and expectations as to what is
acceptable and unacceptable behavior while in public. This can be, and must
be, worked on by taking the children out often, and making sure that
expectations are met, with rewards and consequences for desirable and
undesirable behaviors. Small outings, working up to larger things like
airplane rides is the way to go.

I suspect that the child in this incident was used to getting her own way,
in most situations. It can't work that way. Results like this incident is
the likely outcome, if it does work that way.

We often would get compliments, sometimes from total strangers, on how they
behaved in long and difficult situations.

It wasn't an accident, when our children behaved as expected. It _is_ an
accident when some children behave.
--
Jim in NC