Dooce, who is occasionally called the queen of the mommy bloggers, posted yesterday about being on a plane with a guy who was upset about the possibility of being seated next to a baby. In the comments there's this gem: "Labor didn't scare as much as the thought of getting on a plane with my kid." Who doesn't relate to that? I totally get it. I have had my moments where I had to bring tired, cranky kids somewhere I wished I didn't have to, and really worried about it. I do not want to inflict a crying baby, or a perfectly developmentally appropriate 3-year-old tantrum on the general population. And the idea of being trapped in a plane or on a train or a bus with people who are being put out by my child is nerve-wracking. Some days, going to the grocery store is nerve-wracking. At the same time I feel like our society may have gone off the deep end about these kind of inconveniences. There may have been a golden era when children didn't cry on airplanes, but that was probably because fewer families lived so far apart and air travel cost more, so if they did they missed each other's weddings or funerals. It may also be that there was more vacation time available for driving. In terms of baby behaviour, I'm betting there were plenty of crying babies in steerage when people came over to settle North America originally. And quite possibly their mothers worried all the way across the ocean that they were ruining the trip for others. But I don't think that this is modern phenomenon or that there is a right to travel undisturbed forever that modern parents are flaunting. So dear fellow passengers: The next time you are trapped with a crying baby on a flight, please remember that we're all in this together. Babies cry; they always have. As another commenter in that thread remarked, the only thing worse than being on a flight with a toddler throwing a tantrum is being on a flight with a 40-year-old throwing a tantrum. What are your pro tips for handling babies in public? Besides carrying plenty of changes of clothes for baby and self, my pro tip relates more to restaurants: Bring cash in case you have to leave. But that is not an option on an aircraft!