Warning: Bawling Baby On Board

But jokes aside,many years ago,I wrote a piece advocating that parents who flew with shrieking children should be put in one plane and be the only ones forced to endure the din. I also offered to pay a whopping 25 per cent extra on my air fare if I was assured of an adults-only flight. Specially,if it was a transatlantic one. I was labelled as a baby-hater and received tons of irate email and phone calls. A friends daughter even stopped speaking to me because she felt I didnt want to share an airplane ride with her.

But my logic was simple and straightforward. I just wanted to inculcate good old-fashioned consideration. Not in the infants/children but adults accompanying them. No one in their right mind can blame a hapless baby for crying on a flight. The change in air pressure plays havoc on their ear drums and todays parents no longer subscribe to the tried-and-tested remedy of knocking out their children with a hefty dose of cough syrup. Unlike our parents,who probably drank what was left to calm their frazzled nerves. Nope,modern parenting deems that everything is bad for the child and can cause permanent psychological damage. Specially discipline. What if it stifles their creativity? And,God forbid,anyone tamper with their volume levels. Who knows,you could be nipping the next Freddy Mercury in the bud.

The point is children are allowed to scream their lungs out because their parents allow it,thereby actively encouraging them to run free. When it comes to etiquette or conduct,Indian children can easily be ranked among the worst in the world. I have heard that Chinese children come with the Little Emperor syndrome a rather self-explanatory term but since I dont have to see them or hear them,I wont comment. Rather I would like to appropriate the term for our little rajas and ranis who have to shoulder the blame for no fault of theirs but an accident of birth. Take the case of an European parent. They will always board a flight with the right equipment to prevent tears. During landing and take off,they stick a bottle or pacifier in the childs mouth to deal with the change in pressure. And what do you know? No baby,no cry! An Indian family,on the other hand,is invariably in a large group,so its many hands on deck,and while they will remember to pack the paranthas and the theplas,you can be sure they wouldnt have bothered to get any sort of diversion for their child. And if you complain,they turn on you for not thinking that a wailing baby is adorable. How can their progeny not be perfect specially if he or she is shouting out his or her lungs.

Western parents will not allow their children to run up and down the aisles. Aircrafts are not playgrounds and they are immediately shushed up. You will hear no threats or emotional blackmail. Indian parents,on the other hand,will suddenly wake up to the fact that their child is out of sight and start shrieking out for them. Frankly,they are so loud that the child stops hearing what they are actually saying and only gets the message that it is okay to scream in public places.

Let me stick my neck out further and say that Indian parents arent more indulgent or more loving or better parents even though they believe they are. What causes their ratings to plummet is their unwavering belief that their childs excesses is actually someone elses problem. And if he or she shouts,screams or throws a tantrum,it is all good. It is great training ground for the future,after all,they have to grow up and become their parents. And perpetuate this lack of breeding.

tothemannerbornexpressindia.com