It’s funny how the more I fly, the more nervous I become of something going wrong. Law of statistics I reckon. This time, however, I was a bit more nervous of flying as our eldest son no longer has grommets and we have had it on a flight before, where his ear drum burst on take off. We didn’t realise at the time what was happening but discovered the next morning.

So, when we fly now, I have all sorts of things to help him that our ear specialist told us to do. I also tell passengers immediately around us that if they hear either of our boys crying etc, it is not because they are being naughty but that they have problems with their ears and that I will do my best to help them. Most of the time I can see a sympathetic look and others there is a sheer panic of ‘ugh…there goes a peacful flight’.

We had a great flight over to see my mom for her birthday and the boys were fantastic on their 11 hour flight with thankfully no problems with their ears. I kept my side of the ‘good parent’ deal but would like to say :

• To the guy who had his reading light on the ENTIRE night – thanks for thinking of everyone else around you who was trying to sleep.
• To the chap who coughed like he was about to die – should you have really been on that flight?
• To the 2 men who decided that they wanted to chat for 2 hours at the top of their voices – I feel sorry for the people right in front and behind you. Maybe on your next flight when you are trying to sleep someone won’t be as thoughtful as you.
• To the chap who had his headset on super loud that you could hear it 5 seats away – I know a very good ear specialist and audiologist who could test your hearing. By the way, I don’t know how you studied all night with your light on whilst listening to the movie.

Sometimes, I reckon that airlines should pop a flying etiquette note in their safety speech….

It seems like my flying with kids preparation paid off too.