Pssst… Please

Finally… a quiet evening.

Well, not so quiet since the hostel I’m staying at is exactly at a crossroad somewhere in the city center of Dublin, but… manageable. Anyway, I had a very noisy day today.

First, I got a headache from some Africans’ continuous loud chatter in the train from Trento to Verona. Please don’t get me wrong and call me racist. It’s just that… they talked to each other so loud (more like shouting to each other) and not only 2-3 of them but all 8-10 of them. After 15 minutes and there was no sign that they would stop talking, I decided to find some peace in another car.

Unfortunately, one won’t be able to do that in a plane. When I was boarding the flight from Verona to Dublin, I had this ominous feeling because I saw so many toddlers on board. Oh, they’re so cute, sure. But when they started screaming and crying during the take-off and landing, and running around (also, while screaming) the isle during the flight… I began banging my head and wanted to cry myself. The problem is, usually when a toddler is crying, the other toddlers around somehow could feel his/her pain and start crying too, initiating a choir of screams.

No no, I’m not a children-hater, I just don’t know how to deal with them. I have no experience whatsoever in babysitting, except playing with kittens. And by far, for me, kittens are still more interesting than babies.

I’m not a parent yet, so I don’t know how to handle a toddler, let alone a toddler in a flight. But I do know these babies must feel uncomfortable, or even scared during the take-off and landing. I remember there was this story of a couple of great parents distributing packages of candies and earplugs to all passengers, along with a message,

“Hi! My name is Cade, and I am only 16 weeks old! This is my first ride on a plane. I’d like to apologize in advance if my ears start to hurt or if I get scared or cry. Here are some ear plugs (and a little candy) just in case! I hope you have a great flight!”

On today’s flight I couldn’t see well how the parents handled their kids, but at one point, I heard a woman shouted uncontrollably, “Stop crying!!”. So loud that all passengers might hear that. And of course… that didn’t help, the crying and screaming get louder and louder instead. I believe she’s one of the moms, I don’t think an unrelated passenger would say that to a stranger’s kid. Hearing the frustration in her shout, I felt a pang of sympathy. I stopped sighing and put my earplugs (thankfully I have them) instead, though they didn’t help much.

I wonder how much patience does it take for being a parent. Judging from today’s experience, I think… I haven’t collected enough ;).

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