Solutions 21 Weekly Insights

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Development or distraction?

by Tyler Palko | Posted on August 10th, 2016

Last month I boarded a flight to the East Coast with my family. As we (myself, my wife, and our three children (4-year-old girl and twin 15-month-old boys)) stepped onto the plane and began progressing through the aisle to our seats, I noticed the looks we were receiving from the other passengers.

While I typically don’t pay attention to these looks, on this day I couldn’t help but notice them. You know the looks… The eye rolls, the pre-flight headphones-on-music-up move, people literally saying, “Please don’t let these monsters sit by us” with their facial expressions. It was not a fun journey to row L, to say the least.

We took our seats and then, to every passenger’s horror, my kids did exactly what they feared. The boys began squirming and fussing. They wouldn’t sit still, attempting to explore everything. My daughter, however, sat in her seat, peacefully, on her iPad. Not a peep from her. Luckily, my wife found an unoccupied row in the back of the plane and took the boys to eat.

I found myself sitting next to my perfectly content, pleasant daughter. She was watching a show on her iPad, not bothering a soul. I thought to myself, “Thank goodness she is quiet and not so needy.” There was much more calm on the plane. My wife was feeding the boys and my daughter was completely mesmerized by the show she was watching. It seemed as if luck had changed for the folks on the plane. They no longer had to deal with screaming babies.

That’s when it hit me. Read the rest at the Solutions 21 Blog >

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