Father prepares 100 pairs of earplugs for passengers in case 8-month-old baby cries during flight
Afraid that his eight-month-old baby’s cries might disrupt passengers on a night flight, a father prepared 100 pairs of earplugs to distribute to travellers on the plane that they were on.
Footage of the thoughtful gesture was posted on the @inzhejiang Instagram page on July 20.
In the video, a man dressed in black — identified as Mr Chen (transliterated) — was seen addressing passengers while holding a transparent bag containing orange earplugs.
Chen explained to passengers that while his eight-month-old child was soundly asleep at the time of his speech, he was afraid that they might become “noisy” during take-off and landing.
“I’d like to apologise in advance, and I wish everyone a pleasant flight,” he said.
As Chen proceeds to distribute the earplugs, he was met with assuring remarks from a passenger.
“No worries. That’s perfectly normal for a baby,” the female passenger can be heard saying.
Father distributed 20 pairs of earplugs during flight
According to Jimu News, a news outlet based in China, Chen said he had purchased 100 pairs of earplugs more than a week before the flight.
Chen added that he was travelling with his wife and two children — the younger of whom was the eight-month-old baby — to Guangxi, China, at the time.
Having considered the late-night timing of the flight and the possibility that changes in cabin pressure might cause his child to cry, Chen prepared earplugs for his fellow passengers to minimise any disturbance.
He added that he had seen videos of others performing similar gestures and felt it was a “civilised behaviour” worth emulating.
In January, a parenting influencer couple in Singapore was praised for giving out goody bags containing earplugs to passengers on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight in case their five-month-old daughter cried.
Chen said that of the 100 pairs of earplugs that he had prepared, only 20 were given to passengers on the flight.
He was also extremely heartened by his fellow passengers’ understanding. “Some passengers simply said, ‘It’s okay, no need,’ everyone was very friendly,” Chen recalled.
Chen said that his child ended up behaving “much better than expected” on the flight, apart from a few cries during take-off and landing.
On his return flight, Chen adopted a different approach — he handed the earplugs to the cabin crew so they could hand them over to passengers who needed them.
Netizens praise father for thoughtful gesture
The video posted on @inzhejiang’s Instagram page has garnered over 680,000 views and 290 comments.
Most netizens were full of praise for the considerate parent.
“Awww what a kind considerate father,” said one user. Another netizen described him as a “civilised, considerate, and responsible parent”, and said he was a “role model for many parents”.
Thoughtful gesture aside, one Instagram user said that there was no need for Chen to apologise for his baby behaving like one: “Don’t apologise for your babies behaving like babies. Never.”
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