Over at Ask Moxie, they're talking about unsolicited advice from strangers. This is particularly timely since we had a little incident with that yesterday.
Here's what happened: our flight leaving Heathrow departed a little late. It was supposed to leave at 10:50 but actually took off at 11:20 or so. You may have noticed that airlines change the rules on you pretty much every flight these days. Sure enough, although he was in his carseat (strapped in) for the take-off from Dulles, the flight attendants at Heathrow insisted that he must be in my lap with a belt extender. Not in the carseat, no sir.
So I belted him in, knowing that he was tired and it was naptime and he was going to scream. And so he did. For the fifteen minutes before our departure time, for the 35 minutes that we waited on the tarmac, he screamed. I knew that as soon as I could put him in the carseat, he would go to sleep and all would be well.
I'm getting to the point, really.
While we were sitting on the tarmac, seat-belt light definitely ON, flight attendants strapped in for takeoff, the guy behind me (apparently sick of hearing Iain scream) got up and tried to take Iain from me. Let's say that again: HE REACHED DOWN AND STARTED TRYING TO PULL IAIN OUT OF MY LAP, OUT OF HIS SEATBELT, EVEN WHILE I SAID, "NO."
I tried to tell him that he had to sit down because we were supposed to take off, but he kept tugging on Iain, and Charles was practically levitating out of his seat (on the other side of the carseat) to get at this guy. Finally, the male flight attendant got up, ordered him back to his seat, and told me not to worry about it. He knew that Iain would sack out once we took off, as indeed he did.
But...dude. Can you imagine? WHAT was that guy thinking? He was young, Swiss, and seemed nice enough. He kept saying "give him to me, it'll be ok." ???
So, apropos of advice from strangers, let's combine this story with the unhelpful strangers from our flight out to London.
I think it's so nice that people will reach out to help one another. At the same time, no one who attempted to be helpful to us actually helped, and in several cases they were either unhelpful (ie, they kept waking Iain up) or freaky (see Swiss dude above).
If you read the link to Ask Moxie above, you'll see that most of the discussion is about people offering tips on dress, food, and general care. I can see how that would be annoying, but from now on I think I'll take the position that so long as the stranger isn't trying to yank your baby out of your lap, things could be a lot worse!
7 comments:
I would have elbowed him in the balls. I guarantee that will make any man sit down.
Exasperated of Milton Keynes.
This is CRAZY! I can't even imagine having a stranger try to rip my child out of my arms. My husband and I have been traveling with a child/children for 4 years, and I can say it is MUCH worse than it was 4 years ago. On our trip last Christmas, we flew an airline in which we could only take a car seat OR a stroller, but not both (unless we wanted to pay loads more for the extra item). Considering that we were renting a car on the other side, we opted for the car seats and borrowed a stroller when we got to our destination. So it doesn't surprise me about the whole taking off fiasco. That just seems crazy, though. I would guess a baby is safer strapped in a car seat than laying on his mother's lap, but hey, airlines are great for doing things that make no sense!
That is truly bizarre. Wow...I just don't know what to say...
That is truly bizarre. I can't for the life of me fathom why someone would approach a total stranger and attempt to grab their child. And while everyone was supposed to be in their seats! Weird.
On another note, I'm assuming photos of all the festivities in England are forthcoming? I'm sure Miriam's wedding was absolutely beautiful!
Dude,
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-me
OH! So sorry for you and Iain and Charles! As if the scene wasn't difficult enough, for a stranger to try to help by grabbing for your child!
Often referring to myself as a mother bear when anyone or anything threatened my children, all I can say is, the guy is lucky to have been able to walk off the plane under his own power.
I was on the plane in the way back (way back, by the loos), and can confirm the screaming. However, I totally missed the stranger trying to bogart my godson as I completely passed out from exhaustion while waiting for the plane to take off. Mouth open, head jerking, sleep for the 35 minutes we sat on the runway. I tried to set a good example for Iain, only I guess that being that far back from him didn't really help.
Still, he got the message telepathically when we finally took off. And was very good for the rest of the flight.
Now, I am on a death hunt for the Swiss who tried to steal Iain...
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