- A father is caught on a flight to London leaving his child crawling down an empty aisle
- The tactic of calming the fussy baby sparks debate as people are left ‘twitching’
- Others claim the father is “smart” because he “keeps the child calm” around passengers
There is nothing worse than the piercing screams of a restless child on board a busy passenger jet…
And yet a dad’s innovative tactic to beautifully distract and keep his little boy calm on a flight to London has still managed to divide opinion.
A video posted on TikTok by Darcey – also known as @darceomatic – shows a man trying to entertain his child during the flight.
The video, uploaded in October 2022, has since garnered nearly two million views, over 172,000 likes, and over 1,700 comments from viewers who were impressed or concerned by this somewhat innovative parenting style.
In the footage, titled ‘Parenting seen on a recent flight to London’, the father can be seen sitting upright in an aisle seat while the boy crawls on the floor next to him.
With his left hand dangling, the father lets the boy crawl a little way through the open aisle – before pulling him by his pants back to his seat so that the child can climb the aisle again.
A parent has sparked an online debate after he was caught using an innovative tactic to keep his young child busy on a flight to London
Every moment the toddler escapes his father’s grasp and begins to crawl out of arm’s reach, the man pulls him back one more time before releasing him.
The child zooms down the aisle at the speed of light, but not without being abruptly brought to rest by a parent used to their toddler disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.
In the 35-second video, the father and child repeat the maneuver several times, leading commenters to believe the technique was used throughout the flight to keep the restless child occupied and calmed.
The carpeted hallway serves as a seemingly safe, soft platform for the child to play and run around – but not according to some people, who consider the floor “dirty” and “full of germs.”
It was triggered by the child crawling and being pulled back while his hands were firmly on the carpeted floor, and some members of the TikTok community “shuddered” at the father’s lack of concern about possible germs.
One user commented: “My OCD is overwhelming.” “Germs,” while another said: “I’m thinking about all the dirt that must be on this floor.”
Another person wrote: “The people pacing, what’s with his hands?”, while a fourth person said: “Consider the fact that the carpet is full of nasty germs from the floor of people’s shows.” Thanks father.’
A fifth person said: “I just can’t help but think about the dirty carpet and the crawling. “They barely clean these planes.”
With his left hand dangling, the father lets the toddler crawl a little way down the open aisle – before pulling him back to his seat by his pants so that the child can climb the aisle again
Over 1,700 comments were left by viewers who were either impressed by the dad’s quick thinking or worried about the child coming into contact with germs
However, others praised the father for his almost effortless “parenting trick” for those on board planes with young children.
One person wrote: “Pretty smart.” “Keeps the kid happy and calm,” while another said: “That’s excellent parenting haha.”
A third commented: “He’s tiring out the baby, he’s actually a pretty smart parent,” while a fourth person wrote: “At least he’s calm and having fun.” “Everyone would soon be whining if he screamed.”
This comes after an angry plane passenger beat up a mother in October for changing her “screaming” son’s diaper in her seat.
The angry traveler took to Reddit to share her “terrible” experience, prompting many users to denounce the mother’s faux pas and others to advocate for child-free flights.