Tantrums

However much money you pay for an airline ticket, you cannot control who you sit with. I am always apprehensive about sitting next to really fat people or worst, smelly people or those that make unnecessary noises. Babies are always tough as well, you never know when they are going to throw a tantrum.
On my flight today, a small family with a 1-2 year old were sitting across me. The little boy behaved really well thru most of the flight -- he was energetic and wouldn't sit down but he was happy and played with him mum and dad. About 2/3 of the way through though I don't know what happened but he suddenly started crying and crying really loud. Nothing his parents did helped. Usually I can get annoyed and think oh I didn't pay all this money to have this noise pollution. But you should have seen this little boy, his little body was racked with sobs and he was so upset. After maybe 10-5 minutes or so, his mum managed to quite him down a little bit. She was rocking him in her arms and you could see that although he had quietened down, he was trembling and hiccuping.
I was thinking first how weird it is to be a little child in this world and how when they are upset, it is such a sad sight to see. Once I stopped thinking about myself and imagine it from the perspective of the little guy, I was just sad and wanted to make him feel better. Poor little guy.
Meanwhile I was seeing how the parents were handling this. Many times I have said oh I am not ready to be a parent because how can i handle a child throwing a tantrum? But can anyone truly be ready to handle such a situation? Would there be a time when a person says, ok from now on, I can take anything the little kid throws at me.
I think that it is true that you need to have a certain level of maturity before you think about kids, but I don't think you are ever going to get to a stage when you think you are totally ready. I believe you are never going to be totally ready for all the facets of child bearing so waiting for that time to arrive is simply futile.
Having a child will bring you many moments of wondrous beauty and to balance, moments when you want to throw your hands in the air and say what have i gotten myself into. I think the point is, just like your own life, concentrate on the beauty and appreciate those moments all the more.
Of course, what do I know!! :-P