Mum's 'entitled' iPad request on flight with toddlers

"I know how hard it is to travel with a cranky child, but that's simply not a reasonable request to make of a stranger."

"I was on a flight with my three-year-old daughter, and there was a family sitting across from us with a kid who looked about the same age," a mum begins her post to a parenting advice forum.

"The little boy noticed my daughter's iPad and was trying to get at it and started crying when the mum told him no," she continued.

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"She said they weren't allowing their son to use his iPad"

She said that she and her daughter both put on headphones and were just trying to block it out.

"After a while, the woman got my attention and said that they weren't allowing their son to use his iPad on their vacation and asked if it would be okay if my daughter put hers away," the mum recalled.

"I said I was sorry, but no."

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As a result, the kid cried "most of the flight", which was about two hours.

Meanwhile, the parents kept shooting the OP dirty looks, which she just ignored.

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"The entitlement is strong with this one"

After asking the group whether or not she was in the wrong, she was swiftly assured she wasn't. 

Some comments included:

• "NTA. If they don't want their kid to use a tablet on their vacation, they need to be prepared for meltdowns like this while he develops the ability to understand that other people will have different rules and experiences than he will. I feel for them, I know how hard it is to travel with a cranky toddler, but that's simply not a reasonable request to make of a stranger."
• "The only time I DON'T hate seeing a child wearing headphones and staring at a glowing rectangle is on an airplane. You were prepared, you had a quiet, happy child who didn't disturb the other passengers. You did everything right. If the other child was unhappy, it was caused by their parent(s), who failed to prepare."
• "If you are ever going to give a kid an iPad, isn’t the best place to do it on an airplane? As a parent, you are responsible for entertaining your own kid on the plane. They failed, not you."

• "NTA, but that other parent sure is. Just because they’re not allowing their kid to use his iPad for vacation doesn’t mean you have to take it away from your daughter. The entitlement is strong with this one."
• "What a ridiculous request and an insane parenting decision. Nearly every plane I'm on someone is looking at a device, be it a phone, iPad, or seat screen. Did the mum expect everyone in the kid's eyeline to put away their devices? I'm 33 and I don't give myself the expectation of being on a plane without distraction, why on earth would I give that expectation to a small child?"

Originally published as Mum's 'entitled' iPad request on flight with toddlers