On a flight to Los Angeles from Grand Rapids, Mich., a child in an aisle seat was constantly running up and down the aisle and getting into the flight attendant's beverage cart. Finally, the kid was given a cup of cola, which he promptly carried down the aisle and poured onto the seat of a passenger that had gone to the rest room. Of course, this caused an interruption in the service to the other passengers while the attendant cleaned up the mess and provided cover for the wet sticky seat. When I see kids in the gate area whining and bouncing around like they have a bad case of worms and jerking, twisting, contorting as if walking on a bed of red hot coals I cringe knowing, that with my luck, the odds of being seated next to that sort of nightmare are pretty good. And yes - I've got my fair share of war stories too.
Veterinarians like to say that there are no bad dogs, only bad owners.
I think the same can be said for kids. If you see a kid behaving outrageously, it's usually a safe bet that there's an irresponsible parent neglecting his or her duties somewhere in the cabin. When it comes to air travel, there are no bad kids, just bad parents. I promise you that ten years from now when you are traveling with a couple of kids in tow, you'll cringe at even your mild rebuke of parents. Experience is the only teacher when it comes to parenting.