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As a liberal, blue state living, public radio listening gal, I did not expect to find myself writing a post in anger after listening to my local NPR station. Yet, I'm SEETHING. Which is probably apparent by my use of all caps. If you're in the Los Angeles area, perhaps you also caught the discussion on Monday's Patt Morrison show about children and flying during the holidays. Of course you may be forgiven if you only go to the KPCC page and see that the article is about flying in general, not an attack on people who dare to bring their offspring on board. Yet that is what the host kept harping on, and harping on, to the point of grating condescension.
I could tell from the moment Morrison started the discussion exactly where she stood on this issue.
Of course it became more clear when she laughed about how on a flight, she tried to buy a crying child an alcoholic drink. Yes, that's hilarious. I'm sure the parents thought you were a laugh riot as they almost died of embarrassment and frustration. But the real kicker came when Morrison announced that "most parents" simply felt like they were already on vacation when they boarded an airplane. Apparently "most parents" feel like they have noooo responsibilities whatsoever the minute they get on a crowded, stuffy, stinking airplane. None. It's so refreshing and why I choose to fly with my children all the time.
Seriously, stuff it Patt. I'm a sustaining member of KPCC. I listened to your pledge drive, and I give anyway. I support what you're doing and will continue doing it even if you continue to be a smug (child-free?) woman on a mission to make parents feel even more crappy about having to travel with small children.
I just got back from a cross-country trip with my 2- and 5-year-old. Was it fun being in a plane with small people who don't understand that they can't get up for six hours? Did it feel like a "vacation" when my 2-year-old pooped his pants and I had to cram myself into a tiny closet and try to change his diaper? Funny, it totally didn't. As callers and responders on Patt Morrison's page chimed in, it seemed to make her giddy that there were other anti-family people who felt that Skype was the solution to cross-country travel. That's right, someone felt that children should not even be allowed to travel. Patt seemed to get a good chuckle out of that one.
Even when callers were giving examples of adults behaving badly on airplanes, Morrison would insist on steering the discussion back to how horrible parents of children, and children, are on airplanes. Forget the woman I saw screaming at another passenger, who actually got kicked off of a flight I was on last week. Forget the adults who refuse to share an arm rest, have bad breath, fart the entire time, and make sexist and racist comments to whomever is in a four-row range. It's those damn kids who make flying so horrible!
I'm now a former listener of the Patt Morrison show. At least until she stops child-bashing long enough to realize she's being far more obnoxious than my 5-year-old.
Why do people feel the need to attack kids and their parents?
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