Passenger confronts mother on flight over misbehaving child

A woman has vented online after revealing what happened when she confronted a mother about her “misbehaved” child.

The passenger explained she was heading to Los Angeles from Dallas for a job when things took an unexpected turn.

“I was sitting next to this mom in her late 20s with a child who looked to be about three to four years old,” she began the Reddit post.

“We sat in an aisle seat while the mom sat at the window seat, her child in the middle and I was sitting on the edge.”

The woman said about 20 minutes into the flight, the young boy started standing up on the seat and “stomping while mildly screaming”.

“All this while the mom’s nose was in her phone the whole time,” the frustrated passenger continued.


Boy standing on plane seat.
About 20 minutes into the flight, the young boy started standing up on the seat and “stomping while mildly screaming”.
Getty Images/iStockphoto

“I tried to make eye contact with her as a way to inform her that her child is not behaving.”

However, according to the woman, the mom “refused” to look up from her phone.

“I thought maybe after like 10 mins the child would get tired and sit, low and behold, the child didn’t.”

The woman said she then decided to confront the mom but things didn’t go the way she had hoped.

“I tapped the mom on her shoulder and told her that she should watch her child and tell him to sit down. She gave me a dirty look and told me to mind my own business.”

The woman asked reddit users if she was in the wrong, with her post bombarded with responses.

“I would have asked the kid to stop screaming, if mom didn’t like it then I would have said something to her about having to do it since she hadn’t,” one person wrote.

“But I’m guessing she was so checked out she wouldn’t care she only cared someone was telling her what to do.”

Another said: “I have ZERO sympathy for parents who don’t parent, then act offended when people don’t want to listen to their screaming kid.”

Meanwhile, a third person said that they feel for parents who try to calm down their child, but have ”no time for someone playing on the phone rather than TRY to calm a kid down”.

Others, including parents, wondered why the mother hadn’t brought any entertainment for the child.

“I have two kids that I’ve had to travel with, but I always brought entertainment for them and tried my best to prevent them from disturbing others,” the mum wrote.

“Thankfully they are teenagers now. Traveling with little kids kinda sucks.”


Boy on plane.
Another said: “I have ZERO sympathy for parents who don’t parent, then act offended when people don’t want to listen to their screaming kid,” a Reddit user commented.
Getty Images

Another Reddit user said they would pay more to go on a long haul flight without kids on it. “I live in Australia so flights to America/Europe are 24 hours and I hope I never end up in a situation like this,” they wrote.