Observations on childrearing while riding an airplane.

On my recent flight to the ASAs, I found myself sitting next to a little girl and her mother. Nothing all that unusual, or so I thought until I noticed the entertainment that they had brought.

Specifically, this girl of perhaps seven entertained herself by reading her mother's fashion and celebrity gossip magazines. Who knew that Ed had betrayed Jillian? This little girl, apparently.

Once she ran out of magazines, her mother pulled out a laptop so she (the girl) could watch "Confessions of a Shopaholic".

Now, I am not a parent yet and don't think I can really comment on how someone raises their children. But I will say that, over the course of this flight, I developed a nearly irresistible urge to teach this little girl some math.

And that's all I have to say about that.


As a side note, yes, I'm aware this may be some kind of special ritual between this mother and daughter. I don't think so, based on my observations but, hey, people are funny. Likewise, I do not think that parents are necessarily serving their children by engaging with them every second of the day and it is very easy for a stranger to think things from the outside. I really am not condemning the mother. I just have to admit that this was, genuinely, my reaction. I literally wanted to teach this girl some math.