Planes, kids and parents

I have been in Geneva one day. The flight over from Birmingham was eventful to say the least but not as a result of a bumpy ride or any kind of turbulence.

So what was the problem? kids... that was the problem.

Generally speaking, kids on planes don't bother me. Why shouldn't they be there? After all, in this day and age of cheap-flights British families are enjoying holidays further afield than Blackpool or Bournemouth for much the same price and, in many cases, cheaper travel costs (my flight was £49 return). Some of the kids on my flight however, were causing me a few problems.

Personally, I can cope with screaming kid here and there and aren't too troubled by crying kids. On my flight, in the row behind me was a mother with her young son (directly behind my seat - more in a moment) and daughter all excited to be starting their skiing holiday. At the beginning of the flight the kids were moaning about which DVD they wanted to watch on their personal player. Then one of them kept asking questions - I suspect with the headphones pumping in the DVD soundtrack as it was done at quite a volume. Once the volume settled down I had 15 minutes of occassional kicking at the back of my seat.

I did manage to glance at the parents. The father, wisely sat across the aisle, was spark out (prob as a result of not having to deal with the kids in the first 5 minutes). The mother decided that oblivion was the better option and appeared mesmerised by her copy of HELLO! or Cosmo and acknowledged most of the kids comments with a "Hmmm?" or a grunt.

The father I can forgive because he was asleep (which is a lame excuse for not controlling the kids but I'm sure looking after them is tiring). The kids I would have liked to have stuffed into the overhead bins and the mother.... not sure about that without getting upset (grr). She needs to learn a) how to talk to her kids, and b) how to control her kids.

In any event, for all the things I mentioned I'd like to do in the previous paragraph I think air-rage laws should be inapplicable to incidents involving tiny teraways!