What’s the opposite of helicopter parenting? Being a parent on an airplane, apparently.
A nurse drew kudos online when she shared how she and her husband dealt with an out-of-control little girl who was sitting in front of them during a recent flight.
Shayla Monnier and her husband, Andrew, were in the last hour of their packed flight from Atlanta to Denver when the girl in front of them turned around and started blowing raspberries – sending spit all over Monnier and her husband.
Monnier said it happened multiple times without the parents putting a stop to the repulsive behavior.
“Is everybody seriously gentle parenting these days? Because I’m not about it. Not if you’re spitting in my face,” Monnier lamented in the first of two TikTok videos describing the ordeal.
The child – who Monnier said looked between 3 to 5 years old – had been asleep between her parents for most of the flight, but once she woke up it was clear she was going to do what she wanted, she continued.
“I was kind of shocked and the parents told her not to and then it just became a thing,” she told the camera.
“And she fought against them and turned around on the seat and spat on us again.
“This time I put my hand up, just to block the spit from me, and her parents grabbed her and made her sit down, well she fought, trying to turn around and spit on us some more, and she did,” the mom of five continued.
“The spit was going everywhere,” she recalled, noting that the girl’s parents were wearing masks and didn’t try to put one on their child.
The ongoing misbehavior caused Monnier’s husband to “lose his cool,” she explained.
“After the third time my husband very sternly said to the parents, ‘If you don’t get your kid under control, I’ll do it for you,’ and ‘why don’t you put a mask on her? You guys are both wearing masks, why doesn’t she have a mask?’” Monnier said.
“Then the mom yelled back at him and said, ‘If you had kids maybe you’d understand,’ to which my husband replied, ‘We have five children and six grandchildren and I promise you not one of them would do something like that.’”
A flight attendant eventually heard the hubbub and insisted the girl put on a mask, Monnier continued.
The little girl then went back to sleep for the rest of the flight, she added.
The flight attendant also gave Monnier, her husband, and the third passenger in their row some complimentary flight miles, she said.
Monnier’s story quickly lit up the comments on TikTok, with hundreds of viewers praising the 44-year-old’s response to the out-of-control youngster.
“You were showered in the spit of gentle parenting…” one TikTok user joked.
“Gentle parenting is absolute bullsh–t. Kids need clear boundaries and structure,” another wrote.
“I’m on your side…good for your husband!” a third chimed in, with another adding that they were “absolutely in the right.”