The Strife of Riley

[kybearfuzz]

The flight to DC yesterday was a horrid experience, at least for the first half of the trip. Strangely enough, the kid didn't look like trouble. I'd seen him in the gate and seemed like a happy little blond boy, about three years old, with older parents in their 30's. Then we boarded...

I knew it was going to be troublesome when the little boy and his mother were seated behind me. Before we had even left the terminal, he began to whine. He didn't want to wear the seat belt. When his mother basically tried to shush him and tell him that he had to wear the belt, he began to cry... loudly...

The flight attendants had tried to make their announcement, but the competition with this small bundle of pure irritation was clearly in his favor. The only part I managed to hear was the bit about not allowing electronic devices. So no headphones that could have blocked him out.

"I WANT DADDY! I WANT DADDY!"

Apparently the little boy, whose name I found out was "Riley" because I heard dear ol' mom bellow it repeatedly, had figured out that Mommy wasn't going to let him do what he wanted, so he wanted his dad. So Mom and Dad switched places.

Dad then tried to get Damien.. I mean, Riley... to buckle up.

"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!" shrieked the walking ad for birth control.

At this point, Riley realized that swapping parents was not going to give him what he wanted, so he decided to switch parents again:

"I WANT MOMMY! I WANT MOMMY! NO I DON'T WANT TO WEAR THAT!"

A couple of women decided to swap seats with the the dad so all three could sit together. Thank heavens for that, it means that the Spawn of Satan would be farther away from me.

Flanked on both sides by both his Mom and Dad, Riley decided that he obviously hadn't made his position clear, so he began squalling again:

"NONONONONONONO! I DON'T WANT TO WEAR IT! NONONONONONONONO!"

While I realize his age should be taken into account, this is a child who speaks in full sentences. Neither parent seemed to be in control of their child. In fact, if anyone was in control, it was clear to me that it was Riley! The flight attendant came over and told Riley's parents that he had to be buckled in before the plane could take off.

Finally, Riley was strapped in and we could move.

"DADDY! NOOOOO! MOMMY! NOOOOO!"

After about 10 more minute of this, he finally shut up!

Even more disturbing were the two guys sitting next to me. Both of them made comments to me that "if that were my kid, he'd have been quiet by now..." One of them said this in the "I'd have taken off my belt and he'd have been quiet then... ummm hmmmm" tone which unnerved me.

I'm not ripping on kids. In fact, when I went to the restroom on the plane, I saw two kids the same age as Riley and both seemed to be behaving just fine. No crying or anything... I know that kids that age are difficult, but it seems to me that Riley's folks were doing very little in this situation to correct him. In fact, they seemed to be doing anything he wanted.

I'm almost in favor for adults only flights... or at least complementary sound reduction headphones.

Comments

[texwriterbear.livejournal.com]

Sorry you had such a bad flight. That makes me think of one of the best comedy shows I've ever seen back in the early 80s - Bill Cosby: Himself. It was before his sitcom every aired, and he told the story of Little Jeffrey. It's still one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
Here's the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs0cYJUqJys

[bigfundrew.livejournal.com]

as you stated...Riley was the one in total control of the situation

it's not his fault..it's the fault of the parents

[ursaloco2.livejournal.com]

You know as well as I do...a non-defective child doesn't need his ass whipped. The threat of gettin' a whipping was enough to keep me in line. Parents are afraid to even do that....because they feel guilty for working and not having enough time for their children.

mmmmm hmmmm.


:-)

[sweetjimmyto.livejournal.com]

It's a pisser that Riley wasn't taught how to behave.

Kids are like computers. You tell your computer to make the same mistake over and over, it will. It's frustrating because in your head you have an entire operation worked out on how a specific process to be executed. However, if there's a flawed direction ... a missed step ... an unforeseen element that prevents the computer from carrying out its direction, it will never work.

Whenever I see kids misbehaving I look to the parents and see what kind of direction they are giving the child. If Riley is throwing a fit ... it's his parents' fault.

Granted you still want to hold a pillow over the child's face until he suffocates, but at least we have a better idea as to where to lay blame.

[rootbeer1.livejournal.com]

People like that probably think they are good parents, paying attention to the needs of their child.

What they're really doing is raising an unsuccessful human being. Everntually they'll wonder where they went wrong.