No one wants to hear a crying baby on a plane. My kids are great travelers now, but there was a day when apologies had to be made to everyone on the plane for my son’s screaming. On one particular flight, we were sitting on a Florida runway and the air conditioning had been turned off. The boy was hot. While he screamed and squirmed in his father’s lap the other passengers gave us evil stares, like that was going to help.

Please note: The parents of screaming babies aren’t thrilled either. Trust me, if it were socially acceptable to give babies a shot, or two, of liquor to help them “sleep” on a plane, every mother would do this.

If you are guilty of gifting an evil stare or aloud sigh, stop, they help no one. These looks don’t do anything to the parent except make him/her more nervous. A child can sense how nervous a parent is and become even louder.

As the people glared at us that day, I loudly stated, “you all know you want to cry right now too.” This got them to stop and the flight attendant came around to see if there was anything she could do for us.

I asked her to wet one of our towels. I stripped my son down to his diaper and laid the cold cloth from the flight attendant on his back. This soothed him and he slept the rest of the trip.

Figuring out I was hot so he must be too helped me take care of my child. Seems like common sense I know, but when your own child is crying you just want to make them stop. It’s hard to think. Now if I’m ever put next to a crying baby, I ask the mother if there is anything I can do to help her. These words are better than a stare any day.
- Lucy Vine

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