Couple threaten to discipline stranger’s child on a flight – leaving social media users torn

An American TikTok user has split opinion on social media for threatening to discipline a stranger’s “out of control” child who spat at her and her husband on a recent flight.

The debate started after a child in the row in front turned around and blew raspberries on the couple three times in the last hour of a fully booked flight from Atlanta to Denver.

Shayla Monnier, a nurse and social media influencer, shared a video to TikTok recounting the spitting saga captioned “What would you do?”

The child, a girl around four years old, repeatedly moved to shower spit over the pair’s face and arms as her parents battled to keep the unmasked child in the middle seat.

“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,” said Shayla.

Several social media users expressed outrage at the child’s behaviour during the three-hour flight.

One TikTok user wrote: “You tell the parents ‘You stop her behaviour or I will’. Works every time.”

“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,” said another.

Others were more sympathetic to the child’s parents and said “Kids be kids. Parents battle this. It’s life.”

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”.

The child, who had been asleep until the last hour of the flight, then went back to sleep.

Shayla, a 44-year-old mother of five, asked her followers “Is everybody seriously gentle parenting these days because I’m not about it, not if you’re spitting in my face.”

Hundreds of viewers praised the couple’s direct response to the misbehaving child.

“Hubs handled that very well. Ridiculous for them to allow it to happen 3 times,” read one comment on the video.

However, some users felt that the husband’s threat to “control” the child was too strong.

“It must be hard to be so perfect and for all of your children to be so perfect!” jibed one user.

Another wrote: “I would like to hear from a child psychologist how to handle this situation. I do know your husband’s aggression was not ok.”

The original TikTok video has amassed over 120,000 views since it was posted on 17 June.