Flights with children are a lesson in patience – for everyone. But parents do – and are expected to – quell their little one’s tantrums for the duration of the journey. For one flier though it was the mum who became the painful companion when she was expected to take care of the child’s entertainment needs.
A Reddit user shared the story, writing: “Hey Reddit! This happened back in August of 2020 - I was coming back from Budapest to London, England. So I was on a packed plane as other flights to England had been cancelled (thanks Covid) and thus was placed next to a mother and child. I was sat in the aisle seat, the mother (our entitled mother) in the middle, and her kid in the window seat. Before the actual entitlement begins she asked if myself and her kid could swap places as I originally had the window seat. I said sure, if she could take some photos of the outside for me when we took off - not bad, ey? She took one blurred photo and passed me my phone back. Thanks. Ah well, I was getting ready to watch a movie on my phone – ‘Venom’ - which I had not seen yet.”
She goes on to say that she put her headphones on and was happily watching the movie when the mum and child swapped seats, so she had the kid next to her. And this child began to watch the film as well. In a while, the mum tapped on her shoulder and asked if it was a video that was appropriate for children.
“No, sorry this is like a 15 I think?" she responded. She then asked the writer if she had age-appropriate content and when she said she didn’t, proceeded to tell her to switch it off. The Reddit user writes: She asked, "Aren't you going to turn this off?" she asked about my movie. "Uh, no. I'm still gonna watch the movie I picked for my flight" I responded. Now the kid pipes up, "Have you got any games I could play?" "No, because I'm watching a movie".
She then tried to persuade her to allow her child to play on the phone. She writes: "'Come on, he's bored,' EM [entitled mum] said. 'Not my problem though is it?'
"'It's not my problem that your child is bored, you should have planned ahead,' I shrugged and put my headphones back on. Pressed play and resumed. Another two minutes passed and once again the mother and child swapped places.'
Later, the mum, thinking she couldn’t hear her, mumbled: "You could at least let my kid play a game now you spiteful [expletive]."
The writer retorted: “How about you be [expletive] grateful I let your kid look out the window the entire flight you ungrateful [expletive]."
“You know that phrase "silence speaks volumes"? Silence. I could hear her breathing. She made it a point to move next to me as much as possible to annoy me but honestly I could not stop laughing at her which angered her further.
“Then, finally, we landed. I made sure to wait until everyone got off the plane before I got my luggage,” she ends the post.
Users sided with the writer, dusting their remarks with their own run-ins with entitled parents.
One user commented: “Honestly the amount of times people shared about some entitled parent wanting strangers to change what they are watching because of their kid, or wanting to let their kids have a go at a stranger's phone...it makes me wonder if they just have a child and thinks the world owes it to them to help raise their kid.”
Have you been subjected to an entitled parent's demands? Tell us about it at parenting@gulfnews.com
