Reply #140: A "tad" disruptive?

[WyLoochka]

He was climbing on the table and shoving things off of it - even toys he was given to entertain himself with. His "uncle" had to come on the set to try to settle him down, as his mother appeared to be completely incapable of having any influence over the child at all. Every time she tried to hold him to quiet him he got cranky and squirmed to get away from her - successfully. Finally the "uncle" apparently had to take him off the set.

This kid appeared to be one of those "extra challenging" personality types, at least on the video clip. Making him the focus of a "my poor little kid" media campaign will not help her develop the parenting skills to help him curb his obnoxiousness. It's likely to make the problem worse, as she will remain in denial that this is one of her prime responsibilities.

Last month I flew to Orlando and of course there were numerous children on the plane. One girl of approximately two years age lunged to open the door behind the cockpit screaming "I want to get off the plane" over and over again at 35,000 feet. It took a long long time for the parents to get control over her.

When landing we went through some considerable turbulence. Another two year old - a boy - must have thought he was already on a ride at Disney World as he kept gleefully shouting "whoopee" through every jolt to the plane. His father did try and finally managed to shut him up before some white knuckler - perhaps me - shouted out "this is NOT fun - shut that kid up!"

18 months through three years? Probably best to avoid taking them on planes, if at all possible.