Taking the yearly family vacation is something children look forward to.
But family vacation isn’t easy. There’s no down time, no break from squabbling siblings, and you’re never in a kid-proof zone like your comfortable living room at home.
Now with mask mandates, another layer of difficulty is added for those traveling with kids – and one mom just experienced the worst of it.
Chaya Bruck, 39, was finishing up a family vacation with her six children in Orlando, Florida when they boarded their JetBlue flight back to Newark.
Everyone was wearing a mask – except her 2-year-old daughter.
Why? Because she is a toddler!
Have you ever tried to force a toddler to do anything? It is nearly impossible. They push boundaries, want to do the opposite of what you say, and can’t stop moving until they pass out.
And now companies (who obviously have never had children) want you to place a mask over their nose and mouth and hope they don’t choke, suffocate, or use it to whack the person next to them.
JetBlue is no different.
Bruck and her children were shocked when she was confronted by a flight attendant about her child’s mask compliance.
“I was shaken,” Chaya Bruck said. “My kids started crying. They didn’t know what was going on,” reported ABC 6.
Other passengers onboard came to Bruck’s defense trying to convince the flight attendant that a 2-year-old would not be able to keep a mask on for the entire flight.
Bruck tried to explain that her daughter had “never wore masks this entire few months,” and that she would “never make her wear a mask , she’s a baby.”
The argument was to no avail.
Masks are required of all passengers age 2 and up on all JetBlue flights, which was stated in an e-mail the company claims was sent out prior to the flight.
The flustered mother attempted to put a mask on her daughter, but she kept pulling it off.
When it didn’t work, Bruck asked, “Like what, am I going to tie her hands and feet? How am I going to get her to?”
The flight attendant’s response to the mother’s pleas was shared on social media by a passenger taking video nearby.
“… it’s not something we can excuse,” said the attendant.
In the end, the confrontation urged flight attendants to kick the mother and her children off the plane, along with another family who came to Bruck’s aid, according to Newsweek.
And don’t think a medical issue is going to get you out of this one.
The airline has also recently revoked medical exemptions because other passengers were uncomfortable flying with unmasked individuals.
So those with asthma, allergies to the masks – or any of the other long list of issues that makes breathing in a mask complicated – are just going to have to suffer at the behest of paranoid travelers.
And this wasn’t the first time a child was asked to wear a mask when it was completely inappropriate.
A Texas mother was booted off a Southwest flight after her autistic 3-year-old wouldn’t wear a mask.
She even had a doctor’s note explaining how the child could not have things touching his face because of his autism.
But the current facts of the situation were not enough to override the what-ifs surrounding the coronavirus.
Even more infuriating, while airlines continue to implement stringent mask mandates, they’re easing up on sanitization protocols to save time and money, as Proud American Traveler has previously reported.
How about airlines stop thinking they know what’s best for other people’s children and stick to “staying safe” on their end?
Until then, be prepared to bring your baby masks and get real creative with distracting your toddler from the feeling of being smothered for an extended period of time.
