A viral video that showed a plane's passengers singing Baby Shark to a crying toddler has charmed the internet.
The video was posted to TikTok last week by Parikshit Balochi, a self-described travel blogger. So far, his post has received more than 6 million views and thousands of comments from people, including parents, who said the video restored their faith in humanity.
"Crying baby on the plane? No problem," read the video's text overlay.
In the video, Balochi pans his camera behind him to show that several of the plane's passengers are clapping and singing the lyrics to Baby Shark. Two people have lowered their masks and are attempting to make funny faces at the child. Meanwhile, a few others are laughing in their seats.
The video ends with the toddler's father attempting to get his son to smile for the camera, but his son instead looks around the cabin at the singing passengers with a somewhat confused expression on his face.
Of course, babies and toddlers cry on flights for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to general discomfort, hunger and boredom, said LiveScience. However, Dr. Simon Baer, an ear, nose and throat surgeon in the United Kingdom, told the publication that there is a "fundamental anatomical difference between baby and adult ears" that makes flying much more difficult for babies than adults.
"Certainly, one of the main reasons babies cry on planes is that they are not good at pressure equalization in the middle ear, as the infantile Eustachian tube does not generally function as well as [the one in] adults," Baer explained.
The Eustachian tube, said LiveScience, essentially "controls the pressure within the middle ear, making it equal to the air pressure outside the body."
Adults can chew gum, yawn or drink water through a straw during takeoff and landing to help mitigate the effects of ear pressure, said LiveScience. But babies can't do these things. So, Baer recommended that parents give their toddlers a bottle or a pacifier during takeoff and landing to help ease the pressure.
It's not clear why the child in Balochi's video was crying. Regardless, commenters were happy to see the plane's passengers working together to help soothe him.
"It literally costs nothing to be a decent person. We need more of this," said Missy Light205.
"See what can happen when we all work together instead of against each other?" asked Sarah Beckwith.
"OMG, how amazing. Makes me still believe in humanity," said eyb86.
Dani commented: "It takes a village."
One parent wrote: "As a mom, this would warm my heart and make me cry. So many heartless [people] are so mean and annoyed by kids and it puts more stress on parents when we can't calm the kids down in public."
"This should happen more often. Sometimes us parents have no choice but to fly. Thank you for being awesome humans," added another.
