Parents Apologize For Crying Baby With Goody Bags On Flight: Should More Parents Follow Suit?

   By SheSpeaksTeam  Jan 07, 2015

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You may have heard previous heart-warming travel stories about worried parents passing out goody bags before the start of a flight to warn other passengers that they’re flying with a baby that may or may not spend the entire flight screaming and crying. A passenger flying to Miami this month took to Reddit after he was handed a care package complete with ear plugs, candy and a sweet note warning him that a baby named Madeline might make the flight a little noisy.

Redditor Danaus Chang recently told Today that he went into the flight much like the Grinch but found his mood did a 360 after receiving the goody bag. He writes in saying, “I was definitely not looking forward to be sitting near a crying baby of generally loud passengers. I felt like the stereotypical unloving businessman.”

Chang took his seat and was then handed a ziplock bag filled with Rolos, Junior Mints and earplugs and a note. The note was from a baby named Madeline and read, “Hi Stranger! My name is Madeline. I will be 1 on December 17th and this is my first flight. I'll try to be on my best behavior, but I'd like to apologize in advance if I lose my cool, get scared or my ears hurt.”

Chang immediately felt better about his situation and ended up posting a photo of the goody bag to Reddit with the caption, “A baby just handed me this on my flight. I ain’t mad.” He also explains how others on the flight enjoyed the care package saying, “It was like a scene straight out of 'The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. I was literally sitting there smiling. I looked around and saw at least eight other smiling faces as well.”

But not everyone finds the baby goody bags on flights to be so heart warming. Today’s Rebecca Dube recently wrote an opinion piece outlining why parents should refrain from handing out goody bags on flights. She explains how passengers shouldn’t need this kind of incentive to have to deal with a crying baby on board. Dube writes of Madeline’s parents, “No offense to these new parents, who are almost certainly lovely people. They did a nice thing and made people smile. But they’re part of a dangerous trend: People apologizing, or being made to feel they should apologize, for having children.”

What do you think of parents handing out goody bags on flights to warn passengers of the possibility that their baby may cry?

Do you think more parents should follow suit and bring along goodies and ear plugs for fellow passengers?