I am not sure how much etiquette 7 year olds are supposed to have but this one did not have any. I was on a flight from Chicago to Phoenix. I got on the plane early and took my seat by the window. Another woman sat in the aisle seat and we were all fine and dandy. The plane was almost full and this family walks on: A mother, father, 2 boys and their aunt and uncle. Unfortunately, there was a free seat between me and the other woman and the mother of these boys directs the 7 year old to sit between us. As she continues to walk towards the back of the plane she tells us good luck…. The boy sits down and he looked pretty shy and quiet so I was not sure what she was worried about.
The plane takes off and the boy is still silent until the woman in the aisle seat, lets call her Carol, decides to talk to him. She asks him his age, name, what he is doing etc, trying to make the kid feel comfortable. Well, he certainly did get comfortable. He quickly turned into a nightmare. I was attempting to read a book and he kept asking what I was doing. Then he would take my book and close it and put it on his lap. He kept asking me if I would switch seats with him and I told him no. He then was leaning over me so he could look out the window. I closed the window shutter so he would stop but then he would lean over and open up the shutter.
I was losing my patience at this point. He kept screaming across the aisle to his aunt asking her if he could sit by her. She told him no, that all the seats were filled. Then he was trying to get the man that was sitting next to her to trade seats. She tried to explain to him that he couldn’t do that. That people pick these seats because they are better etc. He then started farting, yes farting, and he would tell me if smelled like star fish, yes, star fish. Carol tried distracting him by showing him pictures of her pets on her laptop but that did nothing. I attempted reading the magazine in the seat back pocket but he kept taking that from me too and sitting on it or something along those lines. He then bit me, yes, he bit me, I don’t remember why but he just did it. I think I bit the kid back, I couldn’t take it anymore.
He was sitting up in his seat hollering back at his mom. He went back there for a bit and she gave him one of those Leapster games that kids play these days. He was playing that with the sound on! OMG, while doing this he was kicking the seat in front of him and this disgruntle man kept telling him to stop. He then got bored with the game and said he was going to sleep. Of course he leaned on me. I was happy though, he got quiet…..for 3 minutes. Then he woke back up and started his antics again. Carol kept telling him what a good boy he was and how well he was doing on the flight. I wanted to punch her for rewarding his awful behavior. If you have a child like this do not let him sit by himself on an airplane for everyone’s sanity. 0210-11
You should have contacted the stewardess at the very first touch of your book you were reading. And I don’t undertand how a 7-year old has the ability to remove a book from adult hands. You are bigger than he is. Hold on firmly and just as firmly tell him to keep his hands to himself and then buzz for the stewardess. As for leaning over you to reopen the window shutter, that’s when you block his action with your forearm and say, “No, you may not.”
You let a 7-year-old walk all over you because you lacked the knowledge or where with all to control of your own space and the child’s behavior escalated because you did not call for a stewardess to address the issue of a rude child who only got more rude as the plane trip continued.