The airport is absolutely the best place to people watch.  Myriads of combinations, genders, ethnicities, personal styles, personalities and anything else you can think of can be seen in the time spent waiting on your next plane.  Yesterday was no exception as I focused on a particular group, what some might label as the “traditional” nuclear family – mom, dad, older son, younger daughter.  The perfect set up, if you’re living in the 1950’s perhaps, but this particular nuclear family was anything but perfect.

The older son called everyone’s attention to this family, and I mean everyone.  It was hard to estimate his age, as he was a large child, but his behavior was much younger than his size.  Chanting at the top of his lungs as he bounced up and down, “AIRPLANE, AIRPLANE, AIRRRRRPLAAAAAANE!!!” over and over again, it definitely caught our attention.  Cute at first, but we soon came to see that this was not just a one time event.  Because the kids were young enough to board a bit early, they were waiting at the gate,  not understanding apparently that the “A” people got to board first.  When they were stopped from going in, the yelling and whining began.  “I WANT TO GET ON THE AIRPLANE!  WHY CAN’T WE GET ON THE AIRPLANE?”  DADA, WHY CAN’T WE GET ON THE AIRPLANE?”.  Over and over again.  You could see the wheels spinning in people’s minds as they thought, I want to make sure I don’t sit next to THAT family.  Finally they were allowed to board and you  literally heard a sigh of relief from the other passengers, but that wouldn’t last long.

I found myself chuckling as I watched and listened to this.  Imagine having a roomful of these kids to teach?  Two are cake, right?  Well, I’m on summer mode and they weren’t my problem.  I boarded the plane, not even thinking about where they might be, and looked for an empty window seat.  It wasn’t until a mother and daughter sat beside me that I realized what I had done, as the mother asked the the daughter “why did you pick seats next to THAT family?”  Oh well, this might be entertaining.

The family chose to sit father/son in front and mother/daughter behind.  Mom and dad both had devices and headphones.  Other than the occasional “shhhh”, the parents did not speak to their kids.  The kids on the other hand did everything they could to get everyone’s attention.  The little boy had a toy airplane with him which he pretended to fly loudly enough that it could have BEEN a real plane.  The little girl had a little box of fruit loops and some kind of iPad that she didn’t ever really use, although she constantly tried to get mom’s attention while mom did nothing but scroll on her phone.  My previous amusement began to turn to pity for these kids as I observed them throughout the hour and a half long flight.

The little girl would unlatch and latch the tray table and then would spend time slamming the tray table against the back of the seat her brother was sitting in.  Neither parent said a word as they stayed glued to their screens.  The little girl kicked the tray table which continued after they were brought their drinks and snacks so the little girl spilled mom’s drink all over the tray.  Mom cleaned it up when the flight attendant brought napkins, but never addressed it with the child and handed dad the trash when she was finished to get back to her phone.  At one point, the little boy just yelled loudly out of nowhere, causing everyone to jump, and sister followed right after that.  A little bit of “shhh” again, but then back to the phones.  The lady next to me looked at me and just said, “unbelievable”.

At one point, when the plane slowed down on our approach and began to descend, the little girl noticed and it scared her.  She thought we were falling.  In fear she tried to get Mama’s attention, with “Mama, we’re falling!!” several times, but “Mama” never acknowledged her and continued to scroll on her phone with the headphones on.  When the plane landed, the little boy cheered and yelled, again at the top of his lungs “WE’RE IN CHICAGO!!!”.  At that point, everyone chuckled because, well that was funny.

It was what happened next that really made me sad.  As we were waiting for the doors to open to get off the plane, the little boy unbuckled his seat belt and tried to talk to his dad.  “DADA, CAN WE GET OFF NOW?  DADA LOOK AT ME.  DADA, MAY I SIT ON YOUR LAP?  DADA, DADA!!”.  The dad ignored him and at one point, gently pushed the child away because he was blocking what he was looking at on his phone.  My heart broke.  This was not a bad child.  This was horrendous parenting, at least for the hour and a half I had to observe them.  The the child changed and suddenly said “I HATE YOU DADA!  I WANT TO HIT YOU DADA!”.  The dad, for whatever reason, actually smiled a bit as he pushed the child away, maybe out of embarrassment because as of course, the boy yelled it for all the world to hear.

The point of this story is that all adults, not just parents, need to get off of their damn devices when there are children around who need us.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen some adult walking across a street or parking lot or on an escalator, looking at their device while a small child is walking behind them.  It’s negligent.  It’s dangerous.  It’s going to ruin our next generation as they grow up without so many things, too numerous to mention in an already long blog entry.  And don’t just hand them a device to shut them up.  It’s too easy – I know.  Spend time engaging in conversation, explaining things to them, showing them things, reading to them, sharing new adventures together. These kids are our future, we need to prepare them for it.