People on social media are torn as to whether or not the couple were right.
A woman on TikTok has divided opinion after she shared a story of a confrontation she had with a stranger’s child on a flight.
Shayla Monnier, a nurse and social media influencer, posted a clip of her explaining the incident along with the caption ‘What would you do?’.
@shaylamonnier What would you do? ✈️ #fyp #trending #airplane #travel #whatwouldyoudo ♬ original sound – Shay-la ⭐️
Shayla explained how both her and her husband were sat minding their own business on a flight from Atlanta to Denver when a four-year-old child seated in the row ahead of them turned around and spat in their faces.
The out of control child didn’t do this just once, but three times in the space of an hour, to the point where Shayla had to create a barrier to protect her face from the spit shower.
“I put my hand up just to block the spit for me and her parents kind of grabbed her and had her sit down but she fought,” Shayla said.
She added that the little girl was “old enough to understand that you don’t do that.”
The child’s parents, who were sat on either side, attempted to stop their child from her salivary tirade, but according to Shayla, they weren’t strict enough.
Shayla finishes the video by saying, “I need to know what you guys would have done before I say what we did.”
While several social media users expressed outrage at the child’s behaviour during the three-hour flight, others were more sympathetic to the kid’s parents.
One person wrote: “Kids be kids. Parents battle this. It’s life.” Another user added: “I would have done nothing.”
Those who felt the child and parents were completely out of order suggested that Shayla and her husband should have threatened to discipline the kid themselves.
One guy wrote: “You tell the parents ‘You stop her behaviour or I will’. Works every time.”
Another replied: “I would have stood up and firmly said that’s enough. Do not spit on me again. Then call the flight attendant if it didn’t stop.”
In a follow-up video, Shayla revealed that after the third incident her husband Andrew “very sternly said to the parents if you don’t get your kid under control I’ll do it for you.”
The commotion and “yell” back from the child’s mother prompted intervention from a flight attendant who offered the couple and the passenger in the window seat future flight credits because she “felt terrible”.
@shaylamonnier Replying to @ranger275wife ♬ original sound – Shay-la ⭐️
Luckily for all involved, the child went to sleep soon after and no more bodily fluids were sent careering across the cabin.
Shayla, who revealed that she was a mother-of-five and grandchildren to six, asked her followers: “Is everybody seriously gentle parenting these days because I’m not about it, not if you’re spitting in my face?”
Many people praised Shayla’s husbands response to the disobedient infant.
“Hubs handled that very well. Ridiculous for them to allow it to happen 3 times,” one comment read.
Another person praised Shayla and her husband, and couldn’t get over the fact that she was a grandmother.
“You did great! Also- 6 grandchildren?? I want to look like you when I have any grandchildren!”
