So, just imagine – the hour has come. You are the parent of a toddler, and today you are faced with a test that, if successful, will take you to the next level of parenting. A flight with your kid. In fact, not all parents manage to complete this mission the first time, because many obstacles await you there.

Of course, often the main obstacle is the toddler themselves, but among, let’s say, the other ‘level bosses’ that are difficult to pass are other passengers, usually elderly ones. For example, such as this lady who was sitting on the plane next to the user u/oedipus_wr3x – the author of the story that we’ll tell you today.

The author of the post has a 3.5 Y.O. son – and recently the boy had his first flight ever

Image credits: Daniel Frese (not the actual photo)

The kid behaved pretty nicely, according to his parent, but there was also someone who questioned this

Image credits: u/oedipus_wr3x

There was an old lady in the next row who started texting something angrily after the first glance at the kid

Image credits: Quinn Dombrowski (not the actual photo)

Image credits: u/oedipus_wr3x

The parent has great eyesight, so they saw the passenger call both them and their kid ‘bratty’ literally out of the blue

So meet the Original Poster (OP) – the parent of a brave little man of 3.5 years, who recently had his first flight in his entire short life. The author says that the tot behaved well – he pulled his own bag through the airport, tried not to whine and behaved quite nicely.

But the main test awaited the OP on the plane itself. In the next row sat an elderly lady, who, as soon as she saw the author with their son, immediately pursed her lips in displeasure and began texting something on her phone with an extremely angry look. The original poster has good eyesight, and the neighbor used a huge font size, so here’s the message:

“God did it again. He put the bratty parents and kids behind me. He is really testing my patience. God loves me, THIS I KNOW.” We remind you once again – the little passenger and his parent had just boarded the plane and had not yet had time to do anything reprehensible, from this lady’s point of view – but she had already condemned both of them in absentia and in advance.

By the way, as the original poster themselves admits, the kid behaved quite decently on the plane. He whined a little because he was hungry and his seatbelt was too tight, but he never cried or raised his voice. “I get not liking loud kids on planes, but toddlers are allowed to exist and he was doing a great job,” the original poster claims.

Image credits: u/oedipus_wr3x

“Unfortunately, such a system of judgment is still characteristic of many people – we tend to label people based on the prejudices inherent in us,” ponders Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here. “Toddler means ‘spoiled’ and ‘will cry now’. A new mom with a baby means ‘entitled’, and there are many such stereotypes. Moreover, people sometimes like to call it ‘life experience…'”

“I must say, I absolutely agree with this parent’s statement – yes, toddlers and babies often behave badly on planes, but, in the end, this is their stage of development. And you know, I strongly doubt that many years ago, when that lady was a little girl, she behaved differently if her parents took her on a flight.”

“But people, alas, are not inclined to extrapolate the shortcomings of others onto themselves. As the great French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre once said, ‘Hell is others.’ This is how stories like this come about. By the way, I want to give credit to the author of this story for not taking petty revenge. Such patience also deserves respect,” Irina says.

During the discussion of the post, the author admitted that they were tempted several times to give their neighbor some kind of petty revenge, but they wisely restrained themselves. And they actually did the right thing – in any case, the complete approval of the commenters was on their side. “Some people just really want to be a victim. (Her, not you!),” someone wrote in the comments.

And, of course, there were a lot of jokes from commenters about the fact that the Lord God actually wanted to send a test to the Original Poster – and for this purpose he put this overly angry lady in the next row on the plane. “He is really testing your patience, God loves you, THIS I KNOW” – this was probably the wittiest comment of all. So what do you, our dear readers, think about this particular story?

Most people in the comments unanimously supported the parent, claiming that it was probably God’s test for them – and not for the old lady

Image credits: Mary (not the actual photo)

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