Kids and travel: mixed feelings

Bravo to Mary McNamara and The Times for the Kids on Board column (Jan. 4). After weeks of reading mean-spirited letters about the evils of traveling children, it is refreshing to read McNamara’s realistic yet optimistic take on travel with children.

Our 3-year-old has flown to destinations around the world more than a dozen times, and her presence has enriched every trip.

Ramani Durvasula

Calabasas

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Apparently I am not the only curmudgeon who is pedophobic [“He’s Sticking With Adult Companions,” Letters, Jan. 4]. I do, however, wish to relate a story about a flight out of Denver to John Wayne Airport.

Upon locating my seat in a full aircraft I was appalled to find my seat companions in coach were a young mother and her two preschool munchkins. As it developed the mother had a seeming endless supply of various games, toys and other amusements, which occupied her little ones for the entire flight.

Perhaps it is not always the children who are a problem. It can very well be the parents, who are unwilling or unable to ameliorate the travel experience of a small child.

Steve Paliska

Santa Ana