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Comment by unsupp0rted | Hacker News Reader

I'm happy to get unexpected solutions to a problem on HN; that's what we're all here for.

This reply though shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what I'm asking. Children irritate me and I want to block them out to the maximum degree that I am able. I have no interest in making any, or in taking care of somebody else's.

Talk about lack of empathy. "I mean, how could anybody not like children? They probably just haven't been exposed to children enough."

If somebody came here asking how to avoid street dogs in developing countries, the answer wouldn't be "spend lots of time with street dogs".

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See... you're in that same place I was in before I got married and had a child. Children are egotistical little noisy monsters, scared of random things, and needy, needy, needy... I get it.

It's not the amount of exposure to kids, it's the relationship during said exposure, that forces empathy for those little monsters upon you, and your appreciation of your parents goes through the roof.

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As for blocking out the noise, industrial hearing protection is your friend. I'd go for the foamy things that expand inside your ears from 3M.[1]

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Also, you're in a recliner, flying through the air at 600 miles per hour, with your needs attended to by someone paid to do so... putting up with a temporary crying kid with a desperate parent trying to comfort them is waaaayyy better than walking. ;-)

[1] https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/c/ppe/hearing-protection/earpl...

Okay, to summarize:

Q: How should I block out kids?

1. Kids are either great, or are terrible but interacting with them is great, or it's terrible but interacting with them makes you a better person.

2. Use earplugs

3. You're lucky to be in an airplane at all, so shut up and deal with it

By Reddit standards talking past one another is par for the course, but by HN standards this is an uncharacteristically frustrating exchange.

You’re rather quick to criticize, but I don’t see you thanking anyone who provided a better earplug recommendation. You didn’t need to continue to interact if you already knew you were dead-set on not expanding your empathy horizons.

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