How to Cope with a Crying Baby
May 19, 2010 — Mid-Air Flight
On my flight last Saturday between Charlotte and SFO, I encountered The Most Unfair Mother in the World. She was there with her screaming infant child, who, as she said, “had just discovered his own vocal cords.” And how!
I get the whole crying baby thing and how it’s not the mother’s (or child’s) fault. No one like changing air pressure or sitting in a cramped seat for hours on end. But when I stuck a peek at “the outburst that would not quit,” I saw the mother had ear plus in her ears.
Wha?! Rascal! So unfair! She was sitting there blissfully ignoring the racket her kid was causing…in her own private Idaho.
Now, I start get a little pissed. It is one thing for us all to suffer (it’s just a little baby!), but for all of us to suffer, except the mom – No way, Jose!
But I had to admit, it was pretty smart of her.
It brought to mind an earlier conversation I was having with my friends Clara and Allen as they were preparing to take their adorable 11-month old baby Lily on a 10-hour flight to Israel
Lily, happiest baby in the world
We were chatting about survival options, including arming themselves with:
- • Valium (for the parents, not the kid)
- • Apologies (for everyone around them)
But here’s a great new solution:
You can buy a bunch of ear plugs at a local drug store and pass them out to those in the immediate vicinity of the crying baby (saving a pair for yourself!). I love this idea!
For about $5, you don’t need to just apologize for the situation, you can actually *solve* the crying-baby situation! I also think this is a very nice gesture to your travel companions.
So, while we can’t stop the baby from crying, we can stop the noise from driving us all batty! Orange ear plugs – the newest travel accessory! Yay Team!
p.s. Clara and I traveled around Central America together. Check out some of our adventures, including:
- 2009/06/09 How to Survive a Scorpion Sting – #1 Most Popular Post
- 2009/06/24 Swimming with Sharks (all 18 of ‘em)
- 2009/10/20 A Visual Tour of Central America
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 and is filed under How to Cope.