When Did the Clapping End?

My husband and children started our spring vacation today by flying to Florida to spend a week with my in-laws.   The first thing we did to kick-off the week was to take two flights to get to them.   From an adult standpoint, this isn't that exciting.   But to three- and four-year-old children, flying on a plane—two planes—is exciting stuff.

We had been talking about the planes for days.   My son was interested in where the rain came from and we discussed how we would fly up to the clouds where the rain formed and then fly higher so we could look down on the clouds.   We talked about getting on the plan and going down the gangway.   My daughter was interested in when we would be off the ground and both children wanted to see Nana and Papa's house as we flew to their city.

We talked about a lot of things that happened when someone takes a ride on an airplane, but I didn't talk about one thing:  the clapping.  

It didn't even occur to me until our second landing when I was telling my daughter to listen to the sound of the wheels landing.   She had been interested in the loud sound just before and we talked about how there were flaps up to help slow the plane down.    When we did land, she hardly noticed it.   I told her that was because the pilot did a very good job of setting the plane down softly.    And that's when I remembered the clapping.

When I was younger, it was a regular occurrence that the passengers on a plane would clap upon landing.   It could have been whisper-soft landing and we'd clap for the skill in which we were guided in.   It might have been a rough flight and we clapped because the pilot had brought us in safely.   Or it could be just because someone started clapping and we all joined in.    But we did it all the time.   I remember that.

I could speculate on our society and how it's moved to one of excessive bias on the customer service side or perhaps our confidence in pilots is higher, or maybe we're just too into ourselves and our digital devices and flying on a plane is a mundane and tiring way to get to a location.

I'm not sure of the reason, but I think I miss the clapping.

The Big Boy Update:  My sister had a sheet of stickers she was systematically pulling off and finding places to place today.  She handed my son a star sticker.   He looked at it and asked us, "why is my star sad?"  The star was sad; it had a sad face on it.    We weren't sure, but we found a star with a happy face on it to give to my son.    We told him maybe he could figure out the reason why.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Applying the tattoo.   My daughter found a tattoo the other day.   My mother was over, helping me fold laundry in the bedroom when we saw my daughter go to the bathroom, saying, "I have a tattoo.  I know what to do."   My mom tried to help her but she would have none of it.  She got the cloth, got up on the counter, wet the cloth, put the tattoo on her hand, held the wet cloth over it and counted until it was ready.   We looked and sure enough, she knew what to do to put a tattoo on.