I don’t know quite what to think about a video that has gone viral of a Singapore Airlines flight attendant spoon-feeding a five year old boy as he watches his iPad.
As Boy Watches iPad, Singapore Airlines Flight Attendant Feeds Him Dinner
The video was posted by the boy’s father, proud as he could be that he had secured Singapore Airlines business class from Singapore to Tokyo for his family. He was amazed when he looked back and saw that his five-year old son was being spoon-fed his dinner by a Singapore Airlines cabin crew members, historically referred to as a Singapore Girl.
The video is quite cute, but the controversy, for me at least, is that the little guy is not even paying attention to this kind soul who is feeding him. Instead, he’s just transfixed on his iPad.
First, I’m surprised the kid let her feed him. My kids are fiercely independent when it comes to eating. Since age two my daughter has insisted on eating herself and does a remarkably good job, now at age three, eating with a fork and spoon (she has not mastered the knife yet). The same was true for my son, who is now seven and certainly was not being spoon-fed at age five.
Should the flight attendant have fed him? Well, I think it’s a beautiful gesture and one of the things that makes Singapore Airlines unique among its peers. I’ve got four Singapore Airlines premium cabin segments to share with you in an upcoming trip report and the service on Singapore is simply subliminal…it is one of my favorite ways to fly.
I’m not in the mood to attack today, so I will stop far short of condemning these parents…but I am curious your thoughts on this matter. We don’t have a TV in my house, but we do have an iPad that I will occasionally use to help the kids cultivate their German. However, we have a screen-free policy at the table. No cell phones or other electronic devices are allowed while we eat together.
On the other hand, I published my own family trip report earlier this year and you can bet that my son and daughter were glued to the monitor during their dinner. That’s just what you do on an airplane.
But my kids were not being fed…they were feeding themselves, which is a huge difference. There’s just something about the kid essentially ignoring the flight attendant while she feeds him that rubs me the wrong way.
CONCLUSION
A video shows a five-year-old being fed dinner by a Singapore Airlines flight attendant. Is being spoon-fed at that age while glued to an iPad really something for a parent to boast about? Or is it just another sign of how great Singapore Airlines is? Or perhaps both?
top image: @michaelrutherfordonline / Instagram
If it helps keep the kid quiet during my flight or at a nice restaurant, I think having them watch an iPad or whatever device (with headphones on) is awesome! Singapore is simply incredible.
When my older kid was a few years old, a kind cabin crew member cut my kid’s food into bite size pieces in BA First.
And most recently, when we flew from LAX to SIN on SQ, my younger one got a lot of attention and care from the SIA crew due to air sickness over the entire ~ 16 hour flight.
As parents, it is always a relief when cabin crew are kind and go out of their way to help.
A five year old needs to be fed? I guess things have changed since we grew up. At that age it was feed myself, or go away hungry. This kid will probably still be living with his parents when he’s 32.
What is wrong with living with his parents at age 32?
How about the setting where the oldest son never leaves the family home. He gets married and his wife and kids live with the man’s parents. When they die, he gets the house and his now adult children live there until they are married and then the oldest son keeps living there?
What I object in the eating video is that the boy’s boots are on the seat. He should put his feet on the floor or remove his boots if his feet are on the seat. As far as being fed, if it is bonding with the Singapore Airline FA, it’s ok once in a while.
I think it is a display of great service by the SQ crew, but almost to the point of being taken advantage of in my opinion. I think a five year old being spoon fed (and thinking nothing of it) speaks volumes.
There is one curious aspect…as per Matthew the guy looked back and was amazed at the whole situation. I’m just wondering how it came to be…did she volunteer? Did he ask her to feed his son? Did the son ask for her to feed him? Just curious.
“Or perhaps both?”
Both.
I suspect the flight attendant does not have children. She thinks of the boy as little and needs feeding. When she has her own children, she will know that5 year olds are very capable. When I was a kid, I got presents from someone who was always behind, buying presents suitable for a 3 year old when I was 6 and suitable for a 6 year old when I was 9 or 10.
I’m not judging. When you travel with kids you do what you need to go to survive. If a flight attendant wants to feed my kid, have at it.
We’ve got a quiet flight to the Maldives with our kids in 2 months—age 6 and 9. Pretty sure they won’t need to be spoon fed, time will tell I suppose.
kid needs to grow up and grow up quick. Eat like a big boy
Nothing to see here just white privilege…
Anyone know about the kid before commenting ? is the kid a special needs child like someone with autism and the crew showed compassion and wanted to help?
Checking the Dad’s Instagram account, that certainly does not appear be the case.
A few years ago I was traveling with my family from Singapore to Boston, with Japan Airlines. 24h in total, and we were really tired. My 9 year old was also very bored so he headed for the galley to “help” with the food preparation. And those sweet, sweet, Japanese ladies let him. My wife and I were too exhausted to get him back to his seat so I can’t tell you how grateful we were for their patience.
I flew SQ 21 this year in Biz and was underwhelmed. For starters, having to have the FA fold the seat down for you is a major pain. Then, all the IFE movies have 3-4 minutes of commercials so if you start one and don’t like it, you have to watch commercials all over again.
The FA’s certainly are lovely and polite but I hate being called “sir” and I prefer to be talked to and treated like a friend not some royalty. The food was good but not spectacular. The service couldn’t have been better but it was very sterile. It’s absurd that anything but an infant or an invalid is ever spoon fed. I would certainly never allow someone to spoon feed my kid.
And it just happened to be the weirdest flight I have ever been on. There was a guy in front of me with a prosthetic leg. He had a little too much to drink and he would have these loud screaming episodes while he passed out, kick his prosthetic leg into the aisle for the FA’s to fret over. Then the guy in front of him finally had enough after five or six of these episodes and not so nicely told him to “shut the F up” (paraphrasing). After this all the FA’s got involved but he still kept screaming in his sleep and kicking his leg off the bed into the aisle ‘thunk’.
I then flew Finnair Biz three days later and the hard product, the food and the FA’s were MUCH better, They talked to me like I was their neighbor. We talked travel, school, airline industry. It was fantastic.
I’m more concerned about wasting SA business class on a 5 year old.
The seats are big enough for an entire family, lol!
Traveling with my mother in law a while ago on what was to be her last long haul, the sector was SIN-LHR, we woke up at one point to find her awake and the crew member giving her a leg and foot massage to help her relax. Just imagine that on a US carrier.
It’s a great service of the FA doing spoon-feeding, but it was just NOT done in the right way.
You either eat or you watch a movie. If kids a not “trained” to focus on the important element in the moment, they will never learn to focus later in their live on anything. Just that simple. And I’m not saying that you can a movie evening and have some snacks/popcorne. It’s about eating. NOT about watching movie and eat alongside.
This kid will become ADHD in the future (if this is a usual pattern on how to eat), I’m quite sure on this and I’m also sure, that the partents will not understand why and will not be in the position to look back on the “education” and childhood they gave to their kid.
Just my point of view – I have two kids 6 and 9 and they know how to focus on the moment.
And I could go on and on with examples….
Brush teeth works only while watching iPad – I have seen this very often. In the end, the kid is conditioned to iPad to clean teeth – a completely wrong reward of somthing what should be a common thing.
“Air up” drink bottles with a fragrance dispenser – the next big shit. You trink water, but your brain thinks you drink Coke, as there is a fragrance stimulatong your brain – what a shit.