Momlogic's Annie: When my husband and I congratulated ourselves for how well our baby behaved during our flight, the man next to us stopped us mid-back pat.

It's one of those moments the parents who came before us failed to warn us about--taking your baby on a plane. My husband and I were nervous--really nervous. We talked about it for weeks before the actual date arrived. We asked everyone we knew what we should expect. We were prepared for the worst. At the gate, we watched people as they realized their fate--a baby would be on their plane. They tried to squeeze out a smile, but it was obvious their happy faces were hiding their fear. Would they be next to us? Would they be able to sleep? When it was time to board the plane, we took deep breaths, got on and strapped in. We were prepared for the worst...

It turns out the baby was fine. She was actually perfect. She slept most of the time and smiled at everyone when she was awake. When people walked by, they acted impressed. "Wow! We had no idea a baby was even on the plane!" and "I didn't hear her at all!" It was amazing. My husband and I felt so proud. What a great baby! What a great job we've done with her!

We were sitting, ignorantly, in our glee, until the man next to us finally spoke. He was silent the entire flight until now. He was very matter-of-fact, "I was just like the two of you. I had my first child and we flew with him everywhere. He was perfectly behaved. My wife and I KNEW we had uncovered and mastered the secret of successful parenting ... then, we had our second. She was the complete opposite. We parented her the exact same way as the first, but she was just more difficult to handle. So, you can pat yourselves on the back all you want, but just so you know ... you get what you get." Then he de-boarded the plane.

I yelled after him, "Consider us forewarned." Our smiles slightly faded and our pride slowly subsided. We were definitely still grateful to have an easy baby, but his words did stick with us. I have to admit, that before he said this to me, I really did think we had discovered some secret--that our even temperament and perfectly-matched genes had made for our daughter's happy, unfussy personality. I'm happy he told us this, though, for three reasons.

First, it stops me from judging my peers' parenting styles (and their babies, for that matter). Second, my husband and I, along with our baby, aren't perfect, and it's healthy to be reminded of that. And last, and perhaps most importantly, I don't want to feel like an ass when (most likely) my second baby comes out as a wild child who screams on airplanes.