Well-Behaved Children. Isn’t That an Oxymoron?

I just saw this sign at the lounge of the Sagamore Hotel at Lake George this weekend: Well-behaved children are welcome. I guess it is a nice way of saying: Keep your brats out of this place whenever you can.

Don’t all parents secretly believe that their children are well-behaved? Don’t all other people always secretly think that they are not?

This might not come as a surprise to those of you with kids, but on the web there are tips for keeping your children well-behaved when traveling. The ones for air travel are especially entertaining, at least for those of us without kids. Here are my top 3:

  1. Let your children feel that they’re performing a useful role in making the flight happen by being well-behaved. (uh, ok)
  2. Discuss the importance of stretching during air travel (that should keep them occupied for at least 5 seconds)
  3. When the plane takes off, your children will be eager to look out of the window and watch the ground moving away below. This is a good way to introduce the concept of map making. (or the concept of life-long therapy, depending on how nerdy your kid is)

Can kids just be kids?