Passenger yells at mother after her 4-year-old daughter kicked her seat for the entire flight: 'Please get your kid to stop kicking the chair, I can’t take this anymore!'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Writer and Editor
Apr 14, 2026 8:30 PM EDT

She has every right to be upset, but should she have confronted the mother directly? 

A parent can only do so much to soothe their crying baby on an airplane. I know that a lot of people love to complain about how much they hate babies on airplanes, but their presence is something you just have to accept. They are unable to regulate their emotions the way a 5-year-old can, and you can't expect them to behave like an older child. All you can do is put on your soundproof headphones and turn up the music. Parents shouldn't have to endlessly apologize for their baby crying, which is completely out of their control. 

Parents have much more control over their older children and can expect more from them when they're flying. They might not be perfectly behaved little angels all the time, but you can tell them to speak quietly and refrain from kicking the seat in front of them. They might not always do it, but they're better at listening to instructions than a newborn baby! 

Good parents are vigilant on flights, correcting any disruptive behavior, no matter their kids' age. If their toddler keeps kicking the seat in front of her, they will do anything and everything they can to stop her, because they know that it's driving the person sitting in front of her crazy. Anything less than that is bad parenting: you don't get to throw in the towel when your kid is driving everyone bananas in an enclosed space. The mom in this story thought otherwise, but the passenger in front of her daughter gave her a piece of her mind. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10624321280
    via u/roseinmybud

    The passenger is stressed out by the child who has been kicking her seat for the past hour.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Am I the bad guy for yelling at a mother of 3 on a flight?

    Yesterday, I was on a full 7am flight leaving from San Fran to Chicago. The flight was expected to be 4 hours and 15 minutes. With boarding, take off and landing, I was looking at about 5 hours with bt in chair on the aircraft. Once I was settled in my
    via u/roseinmybud
  • seat preparing my eye mask and neck pillow to knock tf out, I realized two feet were kicking me in my back. I could actually feel both feet as United's seats were soft and it was nearly direct contact with my back. I turned around to look through the crack and saw child maybe around 3-4
    via u/roseinmybud
  • y/o sitting directly behind me, another child around 4-5 y/o next to her and a mom holding an infant sitting next to him. I slowly turned around and realized the gravity of my situation and that this would need to be handled delicately.
    via u/roseinmybud
  • Joyful mother sitting near her son while pointing at a tablet screen and demonstrating some information
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    Mom sits with her young family, taking up the entire row of the plane.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • I first waited about 10 minutes to see if mom was going to recognize that the child was consistently putting her feet on the back of the chair and tell her to stop. Mom said nothing. Her and her brother were also tapping the entertainment screen on my chair, which I could feel, and
    via u/roseinmybud
  • messing with the trey table, to which I could also feel. I was so tired and knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep like this so before we took off I mustered up enough confidence to turn around and I very polity asked mom "if she could be mindful that her daughter was kicking my chair
    via u/roseinmybud
  • and if she could please see to it that she stopped." Mom said sorry she "she didn't realize" and I sat back down. I questioned how if you were watching your kids with your own eyes you wouldn't see their feet on the chair, but okay.
    via u/roseinmybud
  • No less than 30 seconds later the kid was kicking my chair again and I accepted it would simply be a long flight. I managed to fall asleep but about an hour into the flight I was woken up because the little girl was opening and closing the window shade right behind where my head was resting on the wall. I couldn't fall back asleep so I
    via u/roseinmybud
  • spent the next 3 hours getting kick, having my chair pulled cause the kids were pulling the tre back and forth and having light come in and out because she was messing with the shade. The kid was rotating between one of these three things for the entire flight. I just sat there, said nothing to anyone and suffered. The mom
    via u/roseinmybud
  • would say "stop" or use a stern "scary" voice and grit "get your feet down" or "don't mess with that" but the little girl really didn't care or listen and just kept doing all of it the entire flight.
    via u/roseinmybud
  • Finally, once we landed the taxi to the gate took a grueling 30 minutes. Toward the end the kid started getting fussy and having a bit of a fit so she repeatedly started kicking the back of the chair. I couldn't take it anymore so I stood up, turned around and yelled "please get your kid to stop
    via u/roseinmybud
  • kicking the chair, please, I can't take this anymore!" I sat back down fuming at the situation and how a person could allow their kid to do this to someone else. I was tired and cranky and I felt bad that I
    via u/roseinmybud
  • snapped like that. Am I the a hole for yelling at the mom? I get traveling with three kids is hard let alone 3 but she had another adult with her that she could have used for help. She wasn't alone. And I think there had to have been something she could have done to prepare for such a long flight like have toys,
    via u/roseinmybud
  • activities sh even snacks to help the kids occupy their time and hands.
    via u/roseinmybud
  • MathematicianLumpy69 Even for a full flight, it's still best to make the flight attendant aware of the situation. Also maybe they would have a solution you don't know of, such as shuffling the seating arrangement of the family.
    via u/MathematicianLumpy69
  • roseinmybud OP I'll def do that next time. I was really just worried the flight attendant would come over and idk why that felt awful to me.
    via u/roseinmybud
  • A female flight attendant helping an elderly passenger sleeping in the passenger seat
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The flight attendant attends to a passenger's needs, as she was trained to.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • HHOVqueen Kids are often more scared of strangers scolding them than their parents. If the flight attendant had told them no, they might have stopped.
    via u/HHOVqueen
  • MasterRKitty you mean the people who get paid to deal with issues like yours? God forbid they come over and help.
    via u/MasterRKitty
  • yankykiwi You should have asked the attendant if there was another open seat elsewhere. They might have bumped you to first
    via u/yankykiwi
  • roseinmybud OP They repeatedly announced the entire flight full was
    via u/roseinmybud
  • Roscoe P_Trolltrain A girl I was flying with was getting kicked, so she elbowed her own chair several times in rapid succession and then just turned and sweetly said, "Just letting out some agression." with a smile, and miraculously there was no more kicking.
    via u/Roscoe_P_Trolltrain
  • Pastafarian Vibes I use my stern preschool teacher voice and speak directly to the kid. "Please stop kicking my chair, I don't like that."
    via u/PastafarianVibes
  • bratikzs Talking to the kid instead of the parent is the answer, specially if the parent is struggling. It kind of scares the kid a bit "oh no! An adult is talking to me" and indirectly points out the problem to the parent.
    via u/bratikzs
  • Rustmutt I've gotten yelled at by the parents a couple times for doing this. I'm not mean just "an adult has perceived you please don't" and the parent gets all MY CHYULD like?? Lady. You forfeited your responsibility, I'm escalating by talking directly to the kid to appeal. You don't get to be aggrieved.
    via u/Rustmutt
  • Temporary_Bench5095 You lost me at "San Fran"
    via u/Temporary_Bench5095

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chair kicking flight attendant toddler mother flight yelling passenger daughter airplane
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