Southwest Airlines has issued an apology to a mother who was escorted off of a plane along with her rowdy 2-year-old son last week. Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz said in an Associated Press article that the airline called 38-year-old Pamela Root and apologized Friday.
Root will receive a refund and a $300 travel voucher as compensation for her time and the portable crib and the diapers she had to buy for the extra night she spent away from home.
Root and her son were expelled from the aircraft shortly before takeoff Monday because other passengers could not hear preflight safety announcements over the child’s screams.
Though none of us on the editorial board at The Daily Cougar have children, many of us have young siblings, cousins, nephews and nieces. We understand Root’s predicament, but what about the other people on the plane? Parents need to be responsible for their children in public, rowdy or not. Nothing ruins a good movie, a romantic dinner or a long plane ride like a crying baby.
It may seem heartless or reprehensible for us to say so, but the bottom line is that everyone else on that plane paid their hard-earned money to be there; don’t they deserve a peaceful experience?
The comfort of the other patrons should still be considered, even in this day and age when children are allowed to do pretty much whatever they want.
But he was just a kid, right? That attitude teaches children that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want to. It becomes OK to be out of line because you are young and you don’t know any better; this only serves as a crutch.
Part of being a good parent is learning to be a good disciplinarian.
Children shouldn’t be scolded or disciplined for simply being kids, but if they don’t learn early on that, in a restaurant, a movie, or on an airplane they should be quiet and respectful of others, when will they?
