Snakes.....Oops, Kids On Planes

So, I arrive in my seat.  I'm happy with the location and am happier than Larry that I used my FF points to get me up the pointy end 

(could that be just one of the reasons that it's called the 'pointy end'?)

However...... a travesty was about to ensue.  There were kids up the pointy end!  That just shouldn't be allowed, should it?  I'm thinking that a very well behaved child of say, 10 years old and above perhaps could be allowed.  The kind that you don't even know is there.

But these kids - you knew they were there.  It started as soon as we boarded.  The young girl who would have been 3ish had the common childhood ailment where they can't quite differentiate between inside and outside voices.  There was a bit of shooshing from the tired looking mother and a lot of whinging from the girl.  However, that wasn't the worst of it.  Her younger brother would have been maybe 18 months old and he wasn't a fan of anything.  For a full, what felt like 13 hours but was really only 20 minutes, he screamed as if he were being stabbed.  Nothing was calming him.  Everyone tried to get involved, from the cabin crew playing peek-a-boo around the curtain to the woman from a few rows ahead with a well behaved, quiet child (!)

I was caught in-between wanting to tut and complain about how this baby was going to ruin the serenity and feeling terribly sorry for the mother who was doing this all on her own in front a cabin full of deep sighing FFers.  There were definitely looks and eye rolls shared between the childless people on board.  After 20 minutes of it, I have to admit, I was one of them!

Then once we were in the air, electronic devices were switched on and the day was saved.

Upon disembarkation I happened to be standing next to this family and the mother was trying to wrangle the kids whilst collect her bags and their toys etc...  I lent in and told her that she was doing a great job and that it must have been very stressful for her.  She was so relieved.  She said "I'll never do it again until he is her age."  

I kindly suggested to her that the next time she flies if she could do it down the other end of the plane, that would be great.

No I didn't.