Reflections on Letter to Editor

The first thing I needed to do was decide what publication I was going to use. I looked through some magazines at first but I just didn’t think I wanted to that route. I always read the newspaper so that seemed to make more sense to me to use that. I read the letters that were sent to the newspaper and the length seem good to me. Also the people that wrote in some were very insightful and well thought out. I also thought the newspaper reaches quite a bit of people around the valley and that seemed to fit as well.
I then had to think of a subject to write about. At the time I was researching what to write, on the news was all about this family that was kicked off this airline. The parents were all in an uproar about it even when the airline gave them free tickets they weren’t satisfied with it. I was hearing a lot of comments on this story some were in favor of the parents but most seemed to think the airline did the right thing. Then that got me to thinking about my situation since I have two kids, and seeing if the airline was justified in what they did. It just seemed to me that this story was interesting and I did feel bad for the airline.
I also decided on this story because I had a personal interest in it as well. I know when you are traveling with kids it can be rough. I have never been on an airplane with my kids but I have traveled to another state with them in the car. It can be challenging to keep them entertained and make sure they aren’t bored. But I know my kids and what they like to do and how quick their attention span can be. I always make sure they have plenty of stuff to do on the trip. They get to pick out toys and coloring books and I even have videos for them to watch. The kids also know when I mean business for them to be quite and play on their own. The parents of this child couldn’t get her to calm down at all and she was also running around and wouldn’t sit in her seat. When I first heard about the story I immediately thought the parents should have had their daughter under control more then they did. When they were being interviewed by some news stations they were actually indignant about the whole thing. Not one time did they say that they might have had some responsibility in that situation. I couldn’t believe that at all, because that to me is what is wrong with some kids today. The parents can’t get their kids under control and some how it is other people’s fault. When I started to write the letter to the editor I had and still have high hopes that it will reach some parents. Parents need to think not only ahead of time of their children’s needs but how a child will react to certain situations. This letter should be a lesson that parents are responsible for their children’s actions and need to be held accountable.
I chose the airlines point of view for quite a few reasons. One is the rules of take off that the airline has. They can’t take off until everybody is in their seat and buckled up, that is for the safety of everybody on board. They actually waited fifteen minutes to see if the child would settle down and sit in her seat. But the girl just kept screaming and running around and going under the seat. The airline had a responsibility to not only them but the other passengers as well. The other passengers might have had connecting flights or even business meetings they had to go to. The airline just couldn’t wait any longer they needed to take so that is why they needed to get them off. The parents just couldn’t get their daughter to do anything but run around and scream. In my opinion the airline definitely seemed justified in making them get off of the airplane.
There were other opinions saying that they airline shouldn’t have done that, that is just rude of them. That is why I decided to write on this subject. Parents need to realize they are the grown ups and the child needs to listen to them especially in situations like this. If I had been in that situation I know what to bring to get my kids attention and keep them occupied. They also know that when I tell them to sit down and be quite that is exactly what they need to do. Even though this girl was only three she knew she should have listened to her parents but it seemed to me the girl had the power and not the parents. The parents didn’t accept any responsibility for what happened and that to me just seemed wrong. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and not blame somebody else for their wrong doing. I just needed to get that point across and that is why I wanted to write about this story.