The Great Airplane Shush-ening of 2024 (Probably)
So, Witney and her family – husband Carson McAllister, two-year-old Jet, and five-year-old Leo – were flying back to the U.S. from Australia. Which, let’s just pause there for a second. Australia. That’s not a hop, skip, and a jump, right? That’s an epic journey. With a two-year-old. My hat is already off to her. Anyway, apparently, during this marathon flight, little Jet was “asked to be quiet several times.” And Witney, understandably, felt some type of way about it.
She took to her Instagram Stories, late Sunday, January 25, which, come on, that’s when all the good, raw stuff comes out, isn’t it? When you’re tired, probably a bit jet-lagged, and just need to vent. She posted this photo of herself, thumbs-up on another flight, basically saying, “Hey, my people get it!” She wrote, “Seems I’ve reached the right side of Instagram,” and “I feel very validated. Thanks for letting me vent.” And then, the rallying cry: “We ride at dawn.”
I mean, that’s a whole mood, isn’t it? “We ride at dawn” for a toddler getting shushed. It’s funny, but it’s also really telling about the state of parenting and public opinion these days. Like, parents are just itching for someone to tell them they’re not alone in the trenches. And Witney, bless her heart, gave them that moment.
Long-Haul Logic
Let’s be real, a two-year-old on a long-haul flight is a wildcard. You can bring all the snacks, all the screens, all the quiet toys, but sometimes, a two-year-old just wants to be a two-year-old. And that usually involves noise. Giggles, cries, demanding “more juice!” at the top of their lungs. It’s not malicious. It’s just… toddler-ing.
And the people who ask a toddler to be quiet several times? Well, you know what? That’s their right, too, if the kid is being genuinely disruptive. But there’s a line, right? Between asking politely and, like, full-on shaming. Witney felt shamed. And that’s the kicker here. It’s less about the noise and more about the perceived judgment.
So, What’s Really Going On Here?
This whole thing, Witney’s vent, the “validation,” it’s not just about a plane ride. It’s a microcosm of the modern parenting experience. You’re constantly under scrutiny, constantly feeling like you’re doing something wrong, and then when someone else confirms your feelings, it’s like a huge sigh of relief.
“The internet has become this giant collective therapy session for parents, where shared frustration is the ultimate currency.”
It’s like, when you’re a parent, especially of little ones, you’re often operating on fumes. You’re constantly trying to anticipate problems, solve them, keep tiny humans alive and relatively happy. And when you’re out in public, there’s this added layer of performance anxiety. Are my kids too loud? Are they bothering anyone? Am I a bad parent for letting them watch this iPad for the fifth hour straight? It’s exhausting.
And then someone shushes your kid. And all that pent-up stress, all that anxiety, it just… boils over. It’s not even about the shush anymore. It’s about the feeling of being judged, of not being understood, of someone else telling you that your very existence as a parent with a child in public is somehow an inconvenience.
The “Paid Off” Part – And Why We’re All Here
The title of this piece says “The Plane Shame That Paid Off.” And it did. For Witney, it absolutely paid off. She felt “very validated.” That’s huge, actually. In a world where we’re constantly curating our lives for public consumption, a moment of genuine, raw frustration, met with widespread empathy, is a powerful thing.
It probably made her feel less alone. It probably made her feel like, “Okay, I’m not crazy for being upset about this.” And that’s really important. Because parenting can be incredibly isolating. And social media, for all its faults, can sometimes bridge that gap. It creates these little communities of shared experience.
This isn’t about shaming the people who shushed Jet. Or maybe it is, a little bit, for those who joined Witney’s “ride at dawn.” But mostly, I think it’s about Witney getting exactly what she needed in that moment: affirmation. A digital hug from thousands of strangers saying, “Yep. Been there. It sucks.”
What This Actually Means
Here’s the thing: we’re probably never going to solve the “kids on planes” debate. There will always be people who think kids should be seen and not heard, especially when they’re trapped in a metal tube for 17 hours. And there will always be parents who are doing their absolute best, and sometimes their best involves a toddler making noise.
But what this whole Witney Carson episode really highlights is the power of shared experience in the age of social media. It shows that sometimes, just sometimes, airing your grievances publicly can lead to a genuinely positive outcome – for you, anyway. It’s not always about changing policy or sparking a revolution. Sometimes it’s just about feeling seen. Feeling heard. Even if it’s over a kid who wouldn’t be quiet on a flight.
And honestly, if sharing your frustrations on Instagram helps you feel better after a grueling trip with a toddler, who am I to judge? We’re all just trying to get by, right? Sometimes that means “riding at dawn” with a bunch of strangers on the internet. And sometimes, that’s exactly what you need.
