Octomom vs. Kristen Johnston: who was ruder?

[Winterlight]

Just the diaper changes for eight toddlers on a long flight boggle my mind.

*cringes at the thought*

That's a good point. If there was an emergency, were there enough adults close enough to each child to make sure they could either put their oxygen masks on or pick them up and carry them? Hmm...

Not to mention, these adults would be strangers trying to help these kids, so trying to evacuate a plane with screaming, panicking, thrashing toddlers whom you don't know? Now add in the fact that adults also get confused and panic in an emergency. Not a pretty thought.

[Hillia]

I saw a picture on TMZ.com (don't judge me!) when she was getting off the plane, and it looked like she had 2 older children (around age 10) and one other adult.  2 toddlers per adult would be a handlful, but 2 toddlers apiece for the kids is nuts. 

And you have to feel sorry for the older kids, too, whose lives are probably filled with caring for all these younger siblings.

[kareng57]

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.

I'm curious - what sort of business would Octomom possibly be trying to start??

[immadz]

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.

I'm curious - what sort of business would Octomom possibly be trying to start??

A day care?

[sparksals]

Good Gracious!  I'm watching Joy Behar on HLN right now and she had a video clip of the ordeal on the flight.  It was a three ring circus.  Kids running around, trying to get out of their seats. ..Screaming, crying, screeching. 

[Carnation]

Kristen Johnson should have complained to the flight attendants and let them handle it.

[Fleur-de-Lis]

Ms. Sulyaman chose to travel, and before that, chose to have those 8 children, under circumstances where she had to take extraordinary measures to become pregnant, and had demonstrably insufficient fiscal and emotional support for the children she already had.

Ms. Sulyaman appears to be a snowflake of the highest order, and I have a lot of leeway for anybody who manages to show any grace in dealing with the unsupervised, unmitigated temper tantrums of 8 toddlers at all, to say nothing of doing so in an incredibly confined space. 

Most of us acknowledge that it is ineffective at best to ask others to stop impinging on our lives, but I find it difficult to deem it rude to express irritation at someone doing so as egregiously as Sulyaman chooses to.

[heartmug]

And you have to feel sorry for the older kids, too, whose lives are probably filled with caring for all these younger siblings.

Oh heck yay.  A life filled with "Take your brother's hand."  "Go see where you sister went to."  "Help her get dressed."  "Pour him a glass of milk."  Ugh.

[VorFemme]

Anyone who thought that "Snakes On A Plane" was the worst horror movie ever..................has never imagined the depths & heights of horror that "Eight Toddlers On A Plane" could go to.........earaches, tummy trouble, the diapers (or several toddlers in toilet training needing to GO TO THE BATHROOM right this minute - and no other passengers can get to one due to the line at the door), and the other things that happen with two year old toddlers multiplied by having eight of them in one plane (wonder if there were any OTHER families traveling on that plane that day?)..................

[evil_xylo]

Anyone who thought that "Snakes On A Plane" was the worst horror movie ever..................has never imagined the depths & heights of horror that "Eight Toddlers On A Plane" could go to.........earaches, tummy trouble, the diapers (or several toddlers in toilet training needing to GO TO THE BATHROOM right this minute - and no other passengers can get to one due to the line at the door), and the other things that happen with two year old toddlers multiplied by having eight of them in one plane (wonder if there were any OTHER families traveling on that plane that day?)..................

If there were other families on board I feel doubly bad for them.  It is hard enough keeping my toddler under control when there aren't other kids bouncing off the walls.  When other kids around acting up I almost need to hog tie her to keep her under control.

Kristen Johnson should have complained to the flight attendants and let them handle it.

With Ms. Sulyman's track record I wouldn't be surprised if the flight attendants were too scared to tell her anything.  She probably would be making an even bigger stink about it and putting the flight attendant's jobs in jeopardy.

[O'Dell]

I think the rude one here is the person at the Today Show that set things up for Sulyaman and her kids to fly at all. The interview should have taken place at Sulyaman's home or at a studio near it.

[Twik]

Kristen Johnson should have complained to the flight attendants and let them handle it.

I agree with other posters that most flight attendants would rather have root canals than have to do this. They may even have tried, but failed to get her attention in the way that a Big Celeb might do.

[Twik]

I think the rude one here is the person at the Today Show that set things up for Sulyaman and her kids to fly at all. The interview should have taken place at Sulyaman's home or at a studio near it.

Well, they were rude - assuming that they put a gun to her head, and forced her to do this. She may well have insisted ("Hey, I get a trip out of this, as well as that lovely, lovely publicity!").

[O'Dell]

I think the rude one here is the person at the Today Show that set things up for Sulyaman and her kids to fly at all. The interview should have taken place at Sulyaman's home or at a studio near it.

Well, they were rude - assuming that they put a gun to her head, and forced her to do this. She may well have insisted ("Hey, I get a trip out of this, as well as that lovely, lovely publicity!").

Then they should have declined to interview her. This was a tabloid type interview, IMO. She's not truly newsworthy and a necessity to have her on. No one put a gun to their head to have her on either.

I think the less publicity she gets the better. There are so many things about her and her kids' lives that are troubling that the "Octomom, the woman we love to hate" aspect of the news coverage is distasteful to me.

[sparksals]

I think the interview was quite helpful in the sense that it reinforced for all of us what she is truly like.