Children should be told to give up their seat on a bus if there's an adult who finds it harder to stand.

[DesolationRow]

I was on a packed bus today with my friend who's in her late seventies. She's not frail but is clearly an older woman who walks quite slowly and hasn't got the best balance. We were going to the seaside and as it's the first day of the school holidays there were lots of families with young children on the bus. Many of the seats were occupied by children from toddlers to early teens and absolutely none of them offered her their seat and their parents neither told them to nor offered their own seats.

Do most people now really think a child should have a seat of their own when there's someone who needs it more? If so, why?

I realise there will be some children with disabilities/ conditions that mean they do need a seat of their own but most preschool children can sit on their parents lap and most children over five can stand for a bus journey can't they?

Kids are not being seen as less

They are being seen as more physically able

Horrible post

@MichelleScarn do you mean under 21s don't pay? Is this a new thing?

Then the kids would be in the safest position which is where they should be. Attitudes to kids road safety have changed a lot over the last few years with parents are less likely to put their kids at a risk.

To be honest I hate people standing on public transport if the train or bus breaks hard or crashes they are going to be become a projectile. Maybe it's time we just banned standing on buses for everyone.

My 10 year old is perfectly capable of standing up on a bus and can also do things like crouch on the floor on a busy train which a lot of even relatively healthy adults would find hard to do.

They are not more able to stand and balance on a moving vehicle than a fully developed able bodied adult though are they?

I disagree that my 4 year old is more physically able than an able bodied adult.

And the posters who think children should stand for any adult must think children are less. There's no other reason why I, as an able bodied, non-pregnant 31 year old, should expect a 13 year old to stand for me more than I should expect a 25 year old to stand for me. Why would either of them stand for me if they were on the bus and I'm fine to stand? Why would the child (and only the child) be judged for not standing for me on that scenario? I don't teach my children to stand for any adult, because I would never expect a child to stand for me.

When I was twelve I had to give my seat up to an elderly male, there was no railings to hold on to, I was too scared to hold on to the pole with the bell incase I triggered it and I couldnt reach the handles that dangle from the ceiling. I begged my Mother to hold on to me but she said I'd be fine. When the bus came to a halt I fell face first. smacked my head, and got a nosebleed. My nose is still out of shape and its been over a decade

Adults should give up their seats. Not children, get out of here with that crap

That should say, I don't teach my children to stand for every adult. Not any adult. Obviously I'd teach them to stand if there was someone who was less able to.

I think anyone should stand up to give their seat to someone who needs it more. I don't necessarily think that children have to be first in line for this. If my dd had been tired when she was little, I might have preferred to stand up myself. When she was a young teen, I'd have thought it a more effective teaching mechanism to model appropriate behaviour rather than just bossing her around and telling her to give up her seat while I stayed in mine. If 2 people needed to sit down, then I would have given up my seat and asked dd to give up hers as well.

As a young adult, dd is very quick to jump up for someone who needs a seat, so I think my approach worked well enough.

In general, I agree. We use buses regularly and my child has been capable of standing on a bus for up to half an hour since the age of 3. And we've often had to stand due to lack of seats - no one is going to get up in our area for a perfectly healthy child and I wouldn't expect them to. So I must admit to being slightly dubious that your average 7/8 year old needs a seat, provided that there is something safe for them to hold onto. As an adult, I would always get up if someone with an obvious need for a seat got onto the bus and my DC would rather come and stand next to me than remain seated next to a stranger.

It does make me smile a bit to see parents of older primary age or young secondary children fussing around them like mother hens trying to find them seats when my little one (now 5) is stood perfectly happily in the corner.

An able bodied adult is also physically abled but because they are older in years they are more deserving of a seat?

They are not more physically able than able bodied adult sized people in this situation. The overhead hand holds are designed for adult sized people.

Then it's not just about the actual standing, on a busy bus they could become separated from their caregiver, you are expected to move down the bus not stand next to your mum and toddler sibling, blocking the aisle.

Children have the rest of their lives to sit down so the parents should be encouraging their kids to offer up their seats to the less able. It’s common decency and manners as much as anything.
By encouraging children to do this may make them less entitled adults (we can live in hope!)

69 year old who said had to pay on buses in London, I am 69 and bus pass is valid all over the country. Never had to pay in London as long as you use it off peak times

I don't think that would be difficult for able bodied adults, I'm almost 40 and it's not a problem in the slightest.

It does seem off that people ignored your friend when she asked for a seat.
But I do think that I would be hesitant to offer someone a seat if they weren’t very clearly old, with walking stick or whatever. I remember a friend of my parents being quite shocked when someone got up to offer him a seat for the first time. He hadn’t considered himself old but now knew others saw him as looking quite old. He wasn’t annoyed with them but I think he was quite sad about it and I wouldn’t want to offend.

on a busy bus they could become separated from their caregiver, you are expected to move down the bus not stand next to your mum and toddler sibling, blocking the aisle.

So you communicate with them. Shout child name, "we're getting off at this stop, I'll let you know when it is". In any case, children are very good at ducking and weaving through adults to get to you and most adults will make space for them when they realise they're with you.

Heard it all now. It’s pure entitlement to think as an adult you are more deserving of that seat over a child just because you are older.

I was taught to stand and offer my seat as a child. If a child is young and too unstable to stand then they should be sat on an adult’s knee in this situation - they shouldn’t be taking up a seat themselves.

Children should give up their seat for an adult anyway.

On the London Underground I will see a child in a seat with their parents standing if there are no other seats available. So what you describe OP seems not unusual, even though on a bus.

Yabu adults should offer their seat. Kids (ie very light and usually need to be in car seats) standing on a moving bus is very dangerous.

But you are assuming these people can walk. Not everyone with mobility issues uses mobility aids. You can't always tell. I'm not saying that these people always have invisible disabilities but there's a good chance that half of the time they might have. You have no idea. Which is why it's better for people to ask if they need a seat rather than expecting others to offer all the time.

I mean, she's still a toddler, so it's hypothetical. But I've been in a bus crash (albeit minor) but as a result, I wouldn't want her standing until she was safely able to. Nothing to do with entitlement and everything to do with safety. I travel regularly in London and I am the first person to offer a seat to anyone I think might need it more than me. Often when other passengers around me are burying their head in the phone or paper and pretending they haven't seen the individual concerned.