No Way Should Adults Be Expected To Give Up Their Seats To Kids On The Subway
Subway etiquette consists of a series of unspoken rules that not everyone follows. Most people can agree to give up their seat to a pregnant or elderly person, but what about a kid? Should kids be entitled to priority seating? As someone who has lived in big cities for most of her adult life, I’m going to say, “no.”
A “tipster” sent in a photo to Gothamist yesterday of a woman sitting on the train, obliviously enjoying her magazine and seat while two young children stood in front of her, seatless. The tipster seemed to think she was the most vile woman ever for not giving up her seat:
“This morning on the 2 train… This horrible woman saw these 2 little kids needed a seat, and just sat there keeping on with her magazine. Kids really looked like they wanted a seat, but she kept ignoring them. Wearing horrible zebra print leggings too.”
Look, if a parent is able to bring a child onto a train without a stroller, it is probably because the child is able to walk pretty long distances and stand unattended. If you raise children in the city, you teach them how to hold on and balance themselves. I don’t know all the specifics about the situation, but the only time I would see a necessity for kids this age (they look to be about four or five) to need a seat would be if they were traveling a really long distance.
A parent holding a child is one thing – but a child standing on his or her own? If they are older than a toddler, I’m totally comfortable with letting them stand. There is no way one of these little cuties just got off a 10 hour waitressing shift or is wearing three-inch heels. Maybe the woman in the “horrible zebra leggings” just had a bunion removed or something. Who knows? All I know is their little limbs are younger, stronger and better than mine – and probably hers – in every way. Let ’em stand.
(photo: gary yim/ Shutterstock)
