… that’s essentially the stance of one parent from a recent Wall Street Journal article and poll:
Vagabondish is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Read our disclosure.
One mother, on a message board attached to the poll, defended her use of Benadryl to calm a frightened toddler, asserting it’s “the right thing to do for the child, the other passengers, the flight crew and yes, the parents as well.”
As Ben from TheDailyTransit.com notes: “What ever happened to just being well-behaved?” I find despicable the whole notion that almost 40% of parents polled (according to the same WSJ article) reported either drugging their kids or at least considering it while traveling.
Where does this chemical replacement for good behavior stop? Should we be drugging them on car rides? Maybe just long car rides? What about at the movies? Or in the doctor’s office waiting room? Or any other place where parents find it hard to get their children to sit still?
These are the same parents who, at their child’s slightest lapse in attention span, start crying ADD and prescribing every psychoactive drug available to curb same. You’re the parent. Start parenting for Christ’s sake.