Can’t say that I’ve often agreed with Ivana Trump or cared what she thought in the past. Today, however, I have to agree with her outburst on a flight to New York.

Even before the plane took off from Florida some horrid children were running up and down past her seat and screaming. She complained about their behaviour and instead of the kids being told to shut up and sit down, Ivana herself was removed from the plane. It doesn’t help, of course that Ivana became quite belligerent and started using bad language out of frustration. Not nice, I agree, but the situation had snowballed.

But I do have to ask where were the parents of these miscreants? Why were the children allowed to misbehave in that way? Why were they running around instead of being in their seats. Why were they not made to apologise for their unruly behaviour?

At a time like this when tempers are stretched because of terrorist threats, what we don’t need are parents who refuse to discipline their offsprings. Plane travel is stressful enough without having somebody else’s excrescences making it even more intolerable.

Which brings me to my gripe about parents who won’t do the parenting and that includes teaching their children that the sun does not shine from their arses; that they have to learn to behave with consideration for others and that if they don’t they will suffer the consequences.

So what are the consequences of misbehaviour? Punishment? Removal of privileges? Perhaps. In reality, though, the most important consequence of bad behaviour in children is that other people won’t like them. It’s the duty of parents to teach their children this important lesson in life.

It is not a given that children are universally liked. Good children, kind children, caring children, considerate children, they are liked, but screeching monsters who are spoilt rotten are not likeable. They are simply annoying and neither Ivana Trump nor anyone else should have to put up with them. If I pay a king’s ransom for an expensive seat on a plane, I do not appreciate being terrorised by somebody’s little darlings. I would place such boils in the cargo hold for the sake of the civilised passengers.