What a manbaby.
On the last flight I was on, a toddler was doing that whingy fake cry toddlers do, and my only reaction was to turn to my teenage son to say “I do not miss those days”. Then we both plugged in headphones and did our respective things. 
Once I was flying back from taking care of my ailing parents, I got on a plane and the couple w child (mb 2-3?) directly behind me had a kid that was kind of whimpering by take off and within a few minutes of being airborne was screaming. Nonstop. For hours. Finally a nurse about 15 rows up took off her earphones and came back to see what was going on. Poor kid had been playing with her uncle and he was swinging her around by her arms and DISLOCATED her elbow! Nurse went into work mode, ordered up some crushed ice, some sort of sweet snack thing and a double dose of kiddie pain reliever. We didn’t divert and the kid made it to a waiting medical team once we landed. Such relief when she stopped screaming nonstop. No one around them said anything other than early on suggesting it was mb ear trouble? or this? that? no one lost their cool like this damn man-baby… shameful
ETA: When people talk of “controlling” children, it signals to me that either a) they don’t have children or b) they do have children and have a very toxic relationship with them.
A friend at previous job was complaining about a mother who wasn’t controlling her son. I said “as a parent, I’ve been in that situation and know there’s often nothing you can do, and as fellow parents we just have sympathy to a parent who’s trying their best, but as for people like you who don’t have kids, we really just don’t care what you think.”. Karma was listening, as he later in life had twins, and had the good grace to say that I was absolutely right.
The comments in this thread restore my faith in people. Most of Twitter seemed to siding with the man baby. I really should quit checking Twitter once a week or so to see if it’s gotten any better. It never has.
Well. Twitter is mostly Russian disinformation bots and right-wing trollies these days, I understand.
Toddlers pick up on emotions around them. It probably went from bored and angry to scared and timid when the adults start screaming in anger around him/her. When a 2 year old is in full go, God (and maybe Grandma) are the only things going shut that down before they are good and ready to stop.
Or as I like to put it - “Yep, now it’s time to switch places from when you were a toddler. Now you get to be calm even if it’s a bit noisy.”
ETA: My friend A is a calm patient guy who can see the good in people more often than I can. Canadians think he’s exceedingly polite.
His kids are older than mine, so I’ve asked him for a lot of tips and advice over the years. Prior to our first long-haul flight with our baby, I asked if I should prepare gift bags of earplugs and chocolate for our neighbouring passengers. My super-polite friend said “Nah. Look, the people around you will either know about babies and they’ll understand, or they can go fuck themselves.” It was excellent advice.
I found a line I use for the not-so-silent types: “Thanks, random helpful stranger.”
edit: tyop
Yah what the actual fuck. I’m glad this thread didn’t let that slide. Blaming the mom for something she can’t control is bad enough, but “certain communities” is some straight up racism wrapped in a liberal guilt candy coating.
I don’t mind crying kids on planes- it happens and mostly I just feel bad for the parents who are always mortified and doing everything they can.
What drives me up the wall is the recent trend toward older kids (5+) playing games on their devices with no headphones. When did this become okay in public spaces- especially airplanes? I see it a lot now and that is something that the parent and/or flight attendant should be doing something about. Thank jeebus for noise canceling headphones. I don’t remember how I ever got through flights without them.
Maybe they are just of the “It takes a village to oppress a child” mindset. 
Since childhood I’ve had no problem with popping in front of grown ass people so I could see something. I would block no one’s view!
Now I’m a five foot one old lady, I just figure, “Fuck 'em,” and do the same thing. I’m still blocking no one’s view!
Unfortunately they don’t work for noises such as this. They’re great at filtering out the background engine noise, though!
Those also don’t really work against baby noises. They’re made for long-term protection of your hearing in loud environments, not to actually make you temporarily deaf.
The one thing that probably would work is old school wax earplugs. They physically stop up your ears and actually make you nearly deaf. I’m not sure whether they would interfere with pressure equalisation, though, so I would be hesitant to use them on an airplane. Some people also don’t like the feeling of having them in their ears, but I love them.
I don’t think that’s a requirement in this situation. Lowering the volume and cutting out some of the higher frequencies would probably put most people more at ease. Some people could probably put some placebo in their ears and find the situation more tolerable.
The earmuffs people wear at gun ranges can be purchased with electronic sound elimination. You can even get earmuffs with bluetooth these days. They’re bulky and kinda ugly, but you won’t hear a dang thing you don’t want to. Manchild McScreamyface should consider acquiring a set before his next flight. Assuming there’s still an airline that will allow him to board a plane.
I have a pair like that for the riding mower, I love them! They would definitely be an option for the guy in the plane. Really, there are lots and lots of options that he had other than yelling at everyone. I think for people like that, it’s more about control than anything. They feel like they should be able to determine everyone else’s behavior, while having no regard for how their behavior impacts those around them. That’s why I made the joke about sticking placebo in the ears. Sometimes if someone feels like they have any sort of control over a situation, that’s all it takes to appease them. I deal with this daily. It can be exhausting.
Wait, are the ones on the left wax? They look like cotton or something.
When I had a riding mower I’d wear earmuffs. That thing was loud and I am sure will lead to hearing damage over time. I would sneak some head phones under them so I could listen to music as well.
“Grown-up Baby Cries About Actual Baby Crying”
They’re wax, but they come wrapped in cotton so they don’t stick to each other. You remove the cotton and knead them between your fingers to make them pliable before you insert them. So the ones on the right are the unwrapped earplugs.
Properly inserted, they do. I’ve spent many a long day working power tools and driving race cars with foam earplugs. You have to roll them very very tight in your fingers, insert them as far as you can, then hold one finger on them while they expand into place.
Most people don’t use them properly. When you do, let me tell you, that baby would sound like a tiny kitten crying a mile away. Wouldn’t bother anyone.
