@Mame,
I do think most parents do try to take care of their children when they are being disruptive on a plane - the problem being all you need is one terror child and useless parent on a plane to make it horrible. That one child is what stands out - not the 20 or so other on the plane that are behaving themselves and/or with a parent trying to calm and control their child.
Funny this reminds me of my first flight with my newly born little girl. She was only a little over a month old. We were traveling across country over Christmas for a few weeks to visiting relatives in MT and WA so we flew from MA to MT and then MT to WA and back home. The doctor said with a healthy baby this is the perfect time to fly as they sleep so much.
So off we went - getting on the plane for the first time with a little baby - we could see people rolling their eyes (I don't think most realized they were doing it) as we were boarding. As soon as we took off, our little baby immediately fell asleep. She slept the entire flight. As we walked off - people remarked to us. Wow what a great little baby, we didn't even know there was a baby on board she was so quiet.
Of course, our little darling is perfect (at least we thought so).
