Poor Dr. Colette Vieau. All she wanted was to return home from a vacation in Turks and Caicos with her two daughters and her husband. But 2-year-old Natalie would not sit belted into her seat (as per FAA regulations). And so the family was booted off the flight. That is, after Colette and her husband finally succeeded in wrestling Natalie down and getting her belted in.
It seems a little mean-spirited, don't you think? I mean, if you're going to kick a family off, don't wait until AFTER they get their kid under control. That just sounds like you're trying to make a point. The airline (JetBlue) should have had more compassion.
Or anyway, that's my "as a parent" perspective. That kind of changed when I saw the family in action on Today. Hmm, on second thought, maybe I would have booted them off, too.
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Yeah, they don't seem to have a grip. Not that I'd do much better, with two kids that age! But now I'm thinking that Colette and her husband just took too darn long to get Natalie under control -- the crew had lost faith in them by then. It wasn't about getting Natalie under control eventually. It was about showing the crew that they can depend on you to do your job as a parent through the entire flight.
That said, I think the crew could have done better, too. They should have given the parents to the count of ten to control their kid. "And she has to stay in her seat until the seat belt sign goes off." I'm serious! In a situation like this, the airline needs to act like a good parent: State your expectations, make the consequences very clear, and then give the family a chance to make a good choice.
Toddlers are not going away any time soon -- we keep making more and more of them. And with seats getting smaller and prices going up they're becoming everyone's favorite airline scapegoat. But before we start kicking every tantrum-throwing toddler off the plane I think airlines need to come up with some smarter strategies that will work for all their paying customers, big and small.
Do you think the airline was right to kick the family off the flight?
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Comments 135
I also believe spanking would do this girl good. Eventually she will learn to listen, but it needs to happen. Children age 2 do not understand reasoning and talking things over.
I have to agree with the airline's decision. On the surface it seems cruel, but after watching the girls' behavior on the Today Show this morning and the lack of firm control, the flight crew would have zero confidence that those parents could keep them quiet for an entire flight. Stacey's right...its not fair to subject the rest of the plane to their antics.
Seriously? What these kids are doing is indicative of their ages! What do you expect them to do, sit like statues? They are two and three, have no idea why they're on TV being interviewed, and could care less. They were showing signs of being bored and needing attention--being squirmy and all over their parents. I thought the mom and dad handled it great.
Both parents are doctors?!!!!!!!!!!
I can only imagine how little time and energy these two numb-skull, self-entered parents have to devote to these 2 fiesty kids.
Stop whining.
Haha, they are just parents who have no control over their kids...we have all been there. These kids seem as if they are not ready for situations where good behavior are expected, these kids are 2 & 4, can't expect much : ) It sounds as if the airline was wrong though because she was in her seat and settled. Again this is why I do not fly with kids at the moment to big of a hassle, airlines are out of control anymore, charging up the butt for EVERYTHING, can barely pack anything...
Stacey I really hope you don't have kids....a spanking would have made things better??? Spankings should be used wisely and this would not have been wise, frustrated parents would have spanked her, then even more pissed off people on the flight for witnessing that, a kid who would scream and cry harder because she has been hurt.....think about it?! I save my spankings for life or limb situations, like when my 3 y/o continuously ran out into the street, weeks of working with him resulted in a swat on the butt and he has never done it since.