Sorry to break it to all the other parents out there, but my toddler is, objectively speaking, the cutest child in the world. She is an absolute cherub, a delight and a privilege to be around – especially in the economy-minus-class cabin of a cramped transatlantic flight when she is belting out Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at the top of her lungs for the fourth time in a row while everyone else is trying to get some sleep.
OK, maybe not then. Even with my besotted-parent goggles on, I am fully aware that being forced into close proximity to other people’s children is no fun. Particularly on an aeroplane. Heck, being in close proximity to your own children on a flight isn’t fun. I’m still recovering from my recent flight en famille to the UK – highlights of which included my toddler singing every song she knows, then announcing that she was going to throw up just as the plane started to descend. Luckily for everyone on the flight, she waited until the taxi ride to vomit.
All of which is to say that, even as a parent, I am in full support of child-free spaces. An increasing number of pubs and restaurants are implementing child-free policies, and airlines are also getting in on the act: Turkish-owned Corendon Airlines has announced it is introducing child-free zones on one of its routes. A few other carriers, such as AirAsia, have already trialled child-free seating, and I’m sure others will follow. The only thing more stressful than your kid announcing that she is going to vomit on a plane is having to endure the alarmed looks of the child-free passengers nearby.
Still, let’s not stop with child-free zones. My toddler might get motion-sickness but (putting my besotted-parent goggles back on), she still behaves better than many grownups – including the person in front of me who fully reclined their seat the moment the “fasten seatbelts” sign was turned off. If you want to unnecessarily recline your seat, you should be banished to a zone of your own.
• Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
