When my daughter was ten months old, I took her to England to meet her great-grandmother and the rest of my family across the pond. Despite being excited for my little girl to meet her namesake, I was terrified of flying. As I walked to the gate with my girl strapped to my chest, I felt every passenger look at me. Those I passed probably breathed a sigh of relief, but the ones waiting by the same gate as us glared. I'm sure they were thinking that I was just going to be a a nuisance and they'd have to spend their trip trying to help a mom on a plane.
To my surprise, the opposite was true. My fellow passengers welcomed Alice with warm smiles, and a few even played with her so I could eat in peace. One couple in particular made our plane ride exceptionally better, by capturing my daughter's attention for over thirty minutes, and offering to hold her if I needed any assistance. Those passengers? Come on. That's the type of traveler you want to be, right?
Look, no one wants a baby to keep calm on a plane more than their mother. Heavy sighs, eye rolls, and snide remarks only make the mom on your plane feel like the worst person ever. Instead, try one of these seven tips to help her out and make her feel better about the entire situation. You don't have to ruin your plane ride to help out and, who knows, you may go viral for being a decent human being.