Should parents have to apologise for travelling with children, a la Amal and George Clooney?

Even George and Amal Clooney aren’t immune to the parenting nightmare of travelling overseas with young children.

Nothing brings on the new parent fear than the thought of having to take babies on a plane.

Not only do you have the prospect of a squirming and possibly screaming baby to cope with, you’ll also have to contend with the tutting and general eye rolling of said baby’s fellow passengers.

But on a recent flight to the UK with their six-month-old twins George and Amal Clooney came up with a genius idea to ensure there were no hard feelings if their little ones were disruptive in mid-air.

According to People the couple decided to pass out noise-cancelling headphones to ensure their fellow passengers weren’t disturbed should their little ones become disgruntled.

The devices featured the logo of the actor’s Casamigos Tequila and came with a note “apologising ahead of time” if the twins cried, according to the New York Post‘s Page Six.

The Hollywood pair welcomed twins, Ella and Alexander back in June with George recently opening up about why he and Amal chose such classic names.

The babies’ names were trending worldwide on Twitter within minutes of the couple’s announcement.

They’re not the only parents to hand out a sort of sweetener insurance policy for any tricky in-flight behaviour their children might partake in.

In July last year, the parents of newborn twins were spotted sharing goody bags out on a flight. Containing earplugs and chocolates, the gesture also carried an accompanying note with an explanation of why the little ones might cry on the flight and what was, essentially, an apology for the noise.

A photo of the package was soon shared online, and became a bit of an Internet sensation. And this wasn’t the first time for this to happen – over the years, it’s become a bit of a viral trend to hand out these apology packages.

But should parents have to apologise for their children’s behaviour on flights?

According to a survey by LateDeals.co.uk, almost seven in ten Brits dislike flying with babies so much that they would like to see child-free areas introduced on planes. 39% believe that no-kid zones should be compulsory on long-haul flights and nearly a third would go further and bring in such silent spaces on ALL flights to ensure stress-free travel for non-parents. Our dislike of travelling with children clearly runs deep with more than a third of us admitting we’d happily pay extra to travel without a small child kicking the back of their seat.

It’s little wonder therefore that Indian budget airline IndiGo introduced plans to ban passengers under the age of 12 from certain sections of their planes.

But while no one actually enjoys the sound of a baby crying baby, isn’t it an inevitable part of life? Don’t parents need ways of getting from A to B just like the rest of us?

Should parents going about their business feel obliged to shower everyone within hearing range of their baby’s crying with gifts and apologies.

So while it’s a kind gesture for George, Amal and co to give out treats to their fellow passengers, let’s have a little sympathy for flying parents period, regardless of whether they give us in-flight packages or not.

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