My 11 year old daughters teacher wrote this comment on her homework. I'm absolutely flabbergasted and angry. This after my daughter just competed in gymnastics nationals a month ago.

I had to take a flight home this weekend unexpectedly because my dad just suffered a stroke. I spent the entire weekend deep cleaning the house/meal prepping for my mom and then having quality time with my dad when they eventually discharged him.

By the time my flight back came around, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. I had managed an aisle seat on booking the ticket and assumed the two blocked out seats next to me would be a couple. Wrong.

They were two kids, later elementary aged, and their parents sat together in the seats behind them so they could sit together as a couple. These kids whined the entire flight and fought. They made crude jokes and used electronics (iPad, phone, Nintendos) without headphones. They fidgeted in their seats, wrestled each other, and were LOUD. It was also a late evening flight, so I was hoping to get a nap in or close my eyes before my fiancé picked me up for the drive home. However, even with my noise cancelling headsets, I got no sleep due to them yelling or their arms/legs hitting me during their “wrestling.” They were definitely old enough to know better. I looked back at the parents once during the 2.5 hr flight and asked them if they could quiet down their kids please. They shot me a bad look, said “kids” half-seriously once, laughed, and went back to drinking.

The mildly infuriating part? Due to a few factors: our ages, my engagement ring was on, us all sitting were together in a row, and them having the same hair color/skin tone as mine, everyone near us assumed they were MY kids. Even the crew. I got so many bad looks and comments around me for “how loud I was letting them be” and “some people can’t control their own kids” but I don’t even HAVE kids. Their parents were behind us drinking seltzer and I was getting flack for their poor parenting.

So on top of an emotionally charged weekend, I not only didn’t get to rest and relax on my flight back, but also got flack for kids that aren’t mine. I probably could have said more, but I was mentally exhausted and zoned out.

TL;DR Parents intentionally sat behind their poorly behaved kids on the airplane and I was seated next to the crotch gremlins. Everyone assumed they were mine and added stress via glares/comments while I was dealing with my own stressors. I don’t even have kids.

I feel like an important piece of internet culture been vandalised