A scary Mommy

07 January 2013

Flight: Cairo, Egypt

Date: 5th December

As chaotic as flights can be, when there is a good crew anything is possible. Having had a bit of the usual drama, the crew members settled down in the galley to have a quick snack after the service. It was a night flight and peace and quiet was dawning upon the cabin as most passengers snoozed off after a hearty aeroplane casserole. But pandemonium started brewing at the back of the cabin. A mother and a child of about 4 years were having a brutal quarrel, so much so that for a moment it was very hard to identify who was the child and who was the adult. Thankfully except for the annoyed neighbours most of the passengers were fast asleep. Suddenly the annoyed mummy decides to drag her kid down the aisle like a rag doll and drop him in the middle of the startled crew in the galley and order “YOU LOOK AFTER HIM!”

Having consoled the little brat who was as incorrigible as his mother, I finally approached the mother who was now engorged in a movie. I tried desperately to explain to her that we could assist her in looking after the child; if she needed to answer nature's call or while she had her cup of hot coffee; but that it was not possible for the cabin crew to take responsibility of a child completely at any point of the flight when he was accompanied by a parent or guardian. After all we were cabin crew, not her private under paid nannies. She pouted and replied exasperatedly “Well I am trying to watch a movie can’t you see?” Praying for her in my heart and cursing her in my head, I asked her, “So then would you like to put on a cartoon for your SON?”. She replies, “ I don’t know what he likes, he’s freaking jumping up and down and screaming and crying from the moment we got on this plane of yours!”

Giving up talking to this awkward mother, I went on to put on a cartoon for the kid, which he stayed glued to for the next 15 minutes, thankfully, only to start the crying again coupled with screeching and running about the cabin seeking for nothing but attention from his mom. With a few complaints popping up as I went to inspect the situation again, there was the mother feeding nothing but chocolates to the kid. No wonder the child was hyperactive! I kindly requested the annoyed mother not to feed him any more chocolates, as we did have baby food, fruits and healthy snacks available, including fresh milk. “That’s all he eats!” she replies bluntly. So I left the mother and child to sort out their way of living, and wondered who really looked after the kid at home and how much of the mother was remaining underneath her Cleopatra-ish make up.

After a while finally, she comes to the galley with a bottle and asked for chocolate milk. At least hoping she would give the child something healthy, the crew promptly added a bit of drinking chocolate to fresh milk and made her a chocolate milkshake. We couldn’t help noticing that she added some kind of a grinded powder into it. As it turned out to be an eventful evening, the crew inquired as to what medication it was. She earnestly declared that it was a medication prescribed by her doctor for the child to sleep, when he is hyperactive. Horrifically she then requested one of the crew members to hold on to her child while she forced the medicated milk down his throat. Failing to convince any of the crew members to do so, finally an annoyed passenger who had been disgruntled by the child's behaviour held him in captivity while the mother poured the milk into his mouth fervently. This eccentric behaviour made us double check the passenger records in case we needed to inform the Child Services on ground, but unfortunately she was his mother, afterall.

Love,

Dany