Passengers share strategies for dealing with children kicking seats on airplanes

Being kicked in the back of the seat by a child is one of the most uncomfortable experiences for airplane passengers and something they never want to encounter.

Passengers share strategies for dealing with children kicking seats on airplanes

The Quora platform sparked lively discussions after a user posed a question: 'Have you ever experienced being continuously kicked in the back of the seat by a child on a flight?'.

The question quickly garnered numerous responses from individuals expressing frustration about this issue. One user named Kev Partridge shared an incident from a flight where he was seated in front of a lively child. The youngster repeatedly punched the TV screen attached to the back of Kev's seat, making the male passenger uncomfortable, especially during a long flight from Asia to Europe.

Therefore, he came up with a clever trick. He raised a cup of water (but not too much water) above his head. When the child continued to hit the seat in front, Kev pretended to startle and accidentally spilled the water backward, then turned around and said, 'Sorry, I often startle easily during flights.' The child got slightly wet from the spilled water but remained quiet for the rest of the flight.

Carmen Blakestad recounts a story she and her husband experienced. 'There was a kid sitting behind my husband constantly kicking the seat. My husband is over 6 feet 3 inches tall, so he was very uncomfortable sitting on the airplane seat. When he was continuously kicked from behind, my husband was very irritated. What made him even more uncomfortable was the child's mother, who knew about her child's actions but did not intervene.'

Carmen's husband waited until the child's mother went to the restroom, then immediately leaned down and spoke to the child in a gentle but serious tone: 'If you kick my seat again, I will handle you.' Carmen's husband's playful threat had an immediate effect on the child. The young passenger appeared scared and sat quietly for the remainder of the journey.

For Dariuz Scharsig, after waiting but still not seeing the child's parents behind him stopping their child from kicking his seat, he leaned down and said: 'Hey, is this your first flight? I'm also very nervous, so I'm going to close my eyes and try to relax. But if you keep kicking my seat, it will be very difficult for me to relax.'

Dariuz said his approach mainly focused on reminding the child's parents. Surely, they would feel embarrassed and not let their child continue kicking the seat.

Brad Chisholm resolved the issue in a more 'big spender' style: 'I offered the guy in front of me an extra 50 USD to switch seats with me.'

Elizabeth O’Shea, admin of the Parent 4 Success website, suggests dealing with this situation by approaching the child and speaking softly to them, rather than resorting to intimidation.

Source: Anh Minh/ Vnexpress

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Reference: Travel handbook Mytour