What did she want people to do?

[SkivingSnackboxes]

Recently went to spectate at a sporting event and we got on the tram to get there. It was rammed, we expected it to be rammed. It's a busy event.

The tram was standing room only, and it was busy Ie sardines.

This pregnant woman was standing in the middle of the aisle she wouldn't move further down so there was a huge gap behind her. She didn't look that pregnant tbh, she kept shouting. im pregnant, I need space, you all need to back off, I'm pregnant I need a seat im pregnant I can't be touched
The only people sat down were kids and old people and the families didn't offer her a seat. The guard came down and told her she needed to move down into the gap or get off. She decided to get off and then asked if the trams were going to be busy all day?

She genuinely wanted random strangers to not go to the rugby because she enforced a halo of 'im pregnant and no one can be near me'

Surely if you're that precious about being pregnant you'd get a taxi?

This. Older kids who can hang on the poles can should do. I get that smaller kids eg toddlers/young kids can't reach and are safer sitting down, but siblings can 'double up ' on a seat, or one can sit on a parents lap.

I feel sorry for her Tbh, we've all done crazy shit when pregnant 🤷

Do you honestly think that every child sitting on that tram was a toddler? They obviously won't have been.

Some people here are so sure about what everyone else should be doing. Incredible insight.

@MenoEek children have a low centre of gravity. They are less likely to fall. Alternatively if they are so small, sit on an adults knee.

Ah MH issues, I knew it wouldn't be long

Sciatica or pelvic girdle pain or HG or regular but still debilitating sickness or dizziness or exhaustion or any of the million joys of pregnancy. Great that you were able to stand (how is your “pocket of space” less entitled than what this woman asked for?) but not everyone breezes through pregnancy.

I sort of agree. But I’ve been lucky with ‘well’ pregnancies and small bumps, so I never felt particularly in need of a seat. Did get whacked about a bit on the Tube a few times, and shoved on the escalator by city types, but they’d have done that whomever I was.

I would have offered her my seat without a second thought. Perhaps the woman rubbed people up the wrong way with her manner, but it doesn't make it ok for everyone to ignore the fact that she was struggling.

I remember being on the tube once and a woman had a sticker on her coat saying she was pregnant and so I offered her my seat (it was jam packed) and she looked at me with disgust and said I'm pregnant, not disabled. It was so rude and weird and I thought why bother putting a sticker on then to tell everyone? people are so damn odd.

Small children are (in my experience) much less good at anticipating and reacting to the movements of the train. They fall more, not less, just as in general life children fall over more than adults not less- just not as well coordinated. They also can't reach half the things you can hold onto. Anyone who has travelled much on the tube will have seen this. Of course, if they are small enough for a knee than that's a good option.

@LookingOldTheseDays No idea- I'm responding to the general grumps about children sitting on the tube. Of course in OP's scenario someone should have offered a seat. My own children always offer their seats, as they're now teens and perfectly able to stand- the same wasn't the case when they were small.

I'm fortunate enough to be able bodied. As are my children. If someone needs the seat we're using, we will stand. If I was concerned for my children's safety, I'd pick them up or hold them close to me, because I can. Other people don't have that choice so, yes, they are more entitled to the seat than I am.

Stop using entitled as an insult.

Young children shouldn’t be standing either. If the train stops quickly they could be hurt, from 10+ it’s different but some are still tiny even then. Whether they are on an adults lap is irrelevant unless the adult has a separate seat.

I had some old bloke moaning at me for a child sitting on a bus once. He didn’t look infirm but I gave him my seat instead and stood assuming he needed a seat. Children shouldn’t have fewer rights than adults and the more vulnerable should have priority. I doubt he’d have wanted to sit next to me with a six year old on my lap, it would have been very overcrowded.

The woman should have been found a seat though, it’s sad how selfish people are.

If she had said she felt ill I'm pretty sure some one would have given her a seat. Being pregnant does not make you special or in need of a seat, my legs worked fairly well during my pregnancies and standing in tubes did not harm my baby. If she felt dizzy or unwell she could have explained that without shouting about her pregnancy. The passengers were probably alarmed and trying to avoid eye contact after her outburst.

If I was concerned for my children's safety, I'd pick them up

you would honestly stand on a bus holding a child? 😲

On a different thread kids should be backwards facing in the car till 7 🤦🏻‍♀️

Where I live shouting at strangers gets you nowhere. People just assume your a bit odd and ignore you
maybe not right but perhaps that’s what happened

besides there seems to be an attitude by some men that since pregnancy is ‘a choice’ and ‘you lot want equality’ / ‘pregnancy isn’t an illness’ etc that means that basic compassion has been ditched

sad times.

Why are you so nasty?

It doesn’t matter “how” pregnant she looked or even was. That doesn’t mean anything.

I’ve been in terrible pain standing and walking in my second pregnancy since 17 weeks.

If nobody was going to give her a seat then giving her space is the least they could do.

If I was concerned for my children's safety, I'd pick them up

You'd try to stand on a rush hour tube carrying a 5yo? And so not able to hold onto the rail yourself? Good luck with that 😂

I think your being very harsh on her. The guard should have made someone give her a seat. I take it there is no priority seating on a tram. Had I been on the tram I'd have been asking people if they could let her sit down.

I've been there on a packed train and pregnant it's not nice at all and a bit scary. I used to keep an arm infront of me so no one would crush my bump. It's also hard to see how pregnant someone is in this weather when uv a big jacket on. Even if she didn't have a bump she's still pregnant and probably feeling hot, feint etc, it's horrible. Maybe she didn't realise how bad it wld be and in the end got off because no one wld let her sit down. Shame on those who let that happen because they wanted a seat!

Small children can hang onto their adult. They are easy to grab if they do overbalance, unlike adults.

They are also pretty agile. They fall over more because they are more active and adventurous. I haven't fallen over in years, but neither have I walked along a wall, jumped down stairs or hopped across the paving slabs. Or run around looking over my shoulder.

When they fall they are far less likely to injure themselves or the person they land on.

The only reason I'd seat my child on a busy tram is fear of them being swept away by crowd movement. That's a real actual risk. I've corralled mine in before now, using a seat back or wall so they can't get swept off without me.

When I was a dc the adults would sit us on their lap if the bus was busy.
I was never allowed to take a seat to myself if adults were standing.

Not everyone’s got money for a cab, she might have been on her way from work etc I remember when I was pregnant, nobody ever offered me a seat and it was very hard standing in a crowded tube, people would just bump into me and squash me and I was trying to protect my bump. It’s an awful feeling.
I don’t understand why would anyone come to MN to bash pregnant women? There was another poster earlier saying she hated children 😳, and now this.

If my DC had been there and using a seat, I would have got them to move for her (although I like to think I wouldn’t have needed to as my eldest in particular would already have offered).

On an unrelated note, when I caught the tube in London with a pushchair a few years ago (as a tourist), I was pleasantly surprised by people, especially younger men. I didn’t expect any help at all but they often offered to help carry it up long flights of stairs etc.

Her behaviour was weird, though, don't you see? Why did she not move to the centre of the aisle? I know no-one likes to, but we live in a civilisation that is sometimes chaotic and we need to suck it up. I've sat on the floor of a train before whilst pregnant - everything hurt, but, well, the floor was there!