Octomom vs. Kristen Johnston: who was ruder?

[Reuth]

I'm surprised an airline would allow one adult to fly with eight toddlers. Even a daycare is required to have more staff than that.

[Twik]

Even a daycare is required to have more staff than that.

THat's the first thing to cross my mind.

[CakeBeret]

It's not like she was getting on a plane, turned around, and oh my goodness, there are suddenly 8 toddlers following her!  This is a known situation that she should've planned for in advance.  They're her kids, it was her responsibility to either come up with a plan that would let her manage on her own or arrange for some help.  She decided to inflict her problem on all the innocent people around her.  That's rude. 

Kristen Johnson probably could've come up with a better way of saying it, but it wasn't rude in concept.

Totally agree. It should come to no shock to Nadya that 8 toddlers + 1 parent + airplane spells disaster. I will actually go so far as to say that she was rude to attempt that flight in the first place, because no matter how hard she tried, 8 toddlers would automatically be loud and disruptive. She should have brought along helpers or found an alternate means of transportation. "I'm only one person and I can't control 8 toddlers at once" is not a free pass.

[kglory]

And how unfair to the 10 year old sister.   This girl didn't ask to be born to spend her whole childhood taking care of 13 younger siblings, including baby octuplets!

[Aggiesque]

My work place is 6:1 adult....18-24mo. and the usually don't go over 5:1 when assigning rooms (10 kids/2 teachers).

[yokozbornak]

Were they in first class or coach?  If I paid extra money for first class, I would have been even angrier at having to deal with hours of screaming. (For the record, I don't think people in coach deserve to hear hours of screaming either, but if I had paid extra to ensure that I had a better flying experience it would upset me even more.)

[shhh its me]

While I do think that parents should be given some leeway on a flight for fussy children, if they are trying to manage them, and I understand that circumstances may require a parent to travel by themselves with several children... in normal circumstances, at least some of the children would be old enough to manage their behavior, such that the parent could sit next to the youngest couple and have the older ones across the aisle from her (but still in the same row so that she can keep an eye on them).

However, Suleman is in the unusual circumstance of having eight children (well, fourteen, but let's speak of the eight toddlers) who are all toddlers at the same time.  Usually somebody with eight children would have only a few who were preschool and under and enough older ones to help.  In her case, she has to know that she's in an exceptional situation, and she needs to be prepared for it.  She needs to hire somebody to help her on the flight, probably several someones, or she needs to make special arrangements with the airline if possible, or she needs to ask the studio to interview her in her home, or she needs to stop going on interviews that require a plane ride... she has many options, and taking eight toddlers on a plane with one 10-year-old daughter is not a good one.  As somebody pointed out, airlines don't generally have eight seats together, not even in a single aisle.  So, what, does she have two of them next to her, two across the aisle, and then the other four similarly with their 10-year-old sister?  That's asking for trouble, and I think that another passenger is completely justified in asking her politely if she can quiet them, or asking a flight attendant to step in.  For safety reasons along with desering a comfortable environment.

POD and she was flying to/form the Today show  to promote her business . I can't imagine if she asked the Today show for a 2 extra tickets for helpers they would of said no.   Maybe if they flew her business class they could of afforded to charter a plane or heck even all the seats on a 100 seat plane and a nanny or 6. 

If she was a non celebrity  it would actually make a difference if she flew business class or standard *without help*. I've sure there is a way but in almost even conceivable circumstance if you can fly business class with 10 people you can afford to fly with a care giver, if that means not flying bussine class that is a a choice.   I would have much more sympathy for a mother of 8 who is not a celebrity *possibly* flying business class , it could be a much more urgent situation for a normal person.   So if  she was in business class I think Kirsten was significantly less rude if at all. Sorry I feel a little guilty but I think this is one time were evidence of being able to afford to do it a better way would make a person ruder.

[MrsJWine]

I can't really weigh in without my opinion of Nadia Suleman clouding the issue. I think that when you willingly go to great lengths to have multiples when you already have six children, it shouldn't be up to an airplane full of people to just deal with it if you can't control your eight two-year-olds. It has nothing to do with me being familiar with the difficulties of calming children on an airplane, believe me.

I have no idea what she was thinking, maybe that the fame and the book deals would bring in all kinds of money, and she could bask in the glow of her cute little children and all the attention. Who knows? I can't even imagine the despair she must feel now that she realizes she's no longer the huge media sensation, and she's now saddled with fourteen kids, eight of whom are at an extremely needy age. I pity her, but mostly I'm just disgusted by her. Those poor children. I hope they grow up to have some semblance of a normal life. But all the pity in the world doesn't make it okay for her to take over an airplane and get snotty when someone else expresses dismay over their behavior.

[Mikayla]

What I don't get is why bring the kids in the first place?  If they absolutely *had* to be part of the interview, send the NBC folks to her home.   Wasn't it Ann Curry who interviewed the McCaughey (sp?) septuplets in their home every year for awhile? 

Ugh.  I think she was rude to her fellow passengers to inflict this on them, and probably too self absorbed to even see that.

[CinnamonGirl]

I think it's rude to inflict eight two year olds on the passengers, I feel sorry for whoever was on that flight.

[Lauds]

The article I read said that octomom had a couple of helpers with her, but that is still more than two toddlers per adult. I don't know how many of her other kids were travelling with her.

What struck me in the story I read (I think it was on E!Online) was that the third rock lady came out of first class and into business class to ask octomom to get her kids quietened down. So she was exactly sitting close to the family.

I think they were both rude, although octomom is the ruder for creating the situation. I think it is easier to forgive the other woman because her rudeness was due to frustration not deliberate actions/inactions.

[Twik]

What I don't get is why bring the kids in the first place?

Without her children, she's not a particularly interesting person.

Anyway, if there had been an accident on that plane, forget about getting the kids out.

[Twik]

"Grow a baby and get a life"? What does that even mean?

I think it's an interesting view into Ms Suleman's mental workings. Let's point out, this is a woman who, when she heard her fertility specialist was losing his license, said, "Who will I go to if I want more children?"

[Piratelvr1121]

"Grow a baby and get a life"? What does that even mean?

I think it's an interesting view into Ms Suleman's mental workings. Let's point out, this is a woman who, when she heard her fertility specialist was losing his license, said, "Who will I go to if I want more children?"

  She WHAT??? I've never heard that!! 

[Giggity]

Given that like two weeks ago she said the octos disgust her and are like little animals, one wonders when she thinks she'll want more.