Here's how I look at it. I have three kids, 9, 7, 5. They are energetic kids...translation.....WILD! And they had even more energy when they were younger. However, both my wife and I understand that just because we think they're cute, not everyone does. So we do our best to make sure they act as appropriate as young kids can act. And generally I think people understand that we're trying, so they're more tolerant if the kids have their moments. I rarely blame kids for any situation because they're kids. It's the parents who are to blame. Example: Say we're at a restaurant and the kid at the booth next to us is leaning over the top of the booth staring at us. First time, kind of cute. Second time, mildly annoying. 10th time, I'm about to scream. Why? Because their parents don't see that it's rude. They think the world revolves around their kids. And that's when parents AND their kids run into trouble. And in this age where people cater to their child's every need it has gotten even worse. Example 2: When parents of a rambunctious boys say, "Oh, Boys will be boys." You know what I think. That's a bunch of BS!! I have two boys and if they ever did some of the stuff that I see kids do, I would lay down the law. Like what?? Running around the restaurant playing tag. Yelling up and down the grocery aisles. Stuff like that. That's not OK ever! Sorry this is long winded!! I have no idea what really happened on the plane, but if the parent was one of the parents I described above, I'm not surprised she got the boot. If she was trying her best to be considerate, the airlines and the other passengers should have been more understanding. She should get some sort of compensation AND an apology. www.theguysperspective.typepad.com

We're in the middle of the Terrible Twos right now, and we get the stink eye all the time. My first thought is, these people must never have had children of their own, because this is some pretty freaking normal behavior. Sucky, but normal. But, there can't be that many childless people out there. I've even gotten dirty looks from other moms of older kids, like they haven't been there before or something! I will say, my son has a hard time with taking off in a plane, he gets antsy and whines a bit. We've had really cooperative airline employees so far, but this makes me a little scared! What if we get kicked off a flight? All of our family lives 2000 miles away, we fly a lot, I hope he gets used to it. I wonder if people actually complained? Or if the employees just decided they didn't want him on there? Ugh, this is really stressing me out. I'm wondering if this may have been discrimination against a single mom more than against a noisy kid?

We're military and have to fly A LOT. My daughter is now 6 and is a most excellent traveling companion. She pulls her own wheeled carry-on and knows the the airports we fly through better than I do. However, this was not always the case. It was especially bad when she was a toddler and just didn't understand that she had to be strapped into her carseat/scary noises, etc. I bent over backwards to have ample snacks, quiet toys, distractions because I don't like listening to her scream any more than anyone else. Flight attendants are either extremely helpful or rude jerks, it really depends on the airline. Southwest (imho) is by far the most family friendly. I do think some people have really low standards of acceptable behavior for their children. I use the rule "do as you mean to continue" meaning why are you allowing behavior that would be completely obnoxious in an older child? Of course you can't expect perfect behavior out of small children all the time but you can help them out by maintaining schedules as much as possible when traveling. Keeping them fed and entertained helps too.