Parents react to video of dad relaxing on flight while mum wrangles kids

“I would switch with you, but they refuse to sit next to me!” says the dad as he watches his movie in peace.

It’s a tale as old as time. A family gets on a plane, and one parent is the sole carer while the other kicks back and relaxes. And who is the parent that's doing the heavy lifting?

“Mum!” (said with the Bluey theme-song in mind). 

Of course every family is different, but usually it's always mum who they want, need and pester on a flight - and she's likely to have been the one to get their bags packed as well.

And that’s exactly what happened to mum of two, Maria Roberts on her recent family vacay to Disney World - and the whole thing was captured on camera. 

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‘No honey, you enjoy the flight!’

In her viral video, just shy of 19 million views, Maria is seen to be buzzing around, barely sitting down as she helps the kids with their devices, snacks, toilet breaks and goodness knows what else. If you’ve ever flown with kids you know how many requests and demands come your way. 

What was her husband doing in all this time? Other than filming the chaos, we see a shot of him (clearly shot by Maria), sitting down watching a movie. He’s in the company of adults and likely complete strangers, who wouldn’t need to bother him except to get up to go to the bathroom. 

The reason for this is shared in the caption “as Lou likes to say, 'I would switch with you, but they refuse to sit next to me!'"

RELATED: I boarded a flight without my wife because she was late

The family made it to Disney World! Source: Instagram

People weren't buying it

Thousands of commenters were firmly on Team Mum for this one, with one person noting: “I cannot believe that in 2023 women still accept this behaviour.”

Someone else added: “I hate that this is still a standard we are promoting. Even young children can learn that Dad is a good option and don’t need to always be with [their] mum. Please for the love of God stop reinforcing that dads are incapable.”

Another commented: “Nope, nope, nope… I did this one time. After that, I bought two seats together, one row behind the other. He got one kid and they had their own bag of snacks and activities and I had the other. I was never doing that again.”

The most triggering thing for most mothers, is that he’s got his headphones in! 

“The headphones in is so triggering lol,” another pointed out.

“You forgot the part where he asks you where his headphones are!” one cheekily added. 

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Who should carry the load?

The video unsurprisingly sparked a fierce debate about the workload and mental load that one parent carries over another. Many pointed out that not only is the mother being their primary caregiver whilst on the flight, prior to boarding, she would have been the one to have packed for the trip! 

“We each take one kid and they go in the window seat, younger one in the row behind so their feet only kick their brother 😝 Husband manages one kid’s entertainment and snacks, and I do the same,” some advice for next time.  

“I’m sure this was a joke. However my husband and I have an explicit agreement that whoever sits with the kids the way there gets the alone seat on the way back."

But the ultimate comment came from one mother, whose story sounded very much like the James Corden flight rumour (he supposedly ignored his wife and crying baby on a flight). 

“Once on a flight the cabin attendant started apologising to my husband because the lady with the young child sitting next to him was too loud and might be bothering him. (The loud lady was me and the young child was his daughter).” *Cringe* 

At the end of the day, they made it to Disney World and clearly had a wonderful family vacation. While Maria has shared a follow up video tips for flying with children, no advice yet about flying with husbands.

Originally published as Parents react to video of dad relaxing on flight while mum wrangles kids