Children having their own seat on a packed train.

[user1493559472]

I am on a packed train. A child who is about 3 years old is sat in their own seat and not on the parents lap, would you ask to sit down and the child sits on parents lap? People were standing.
Thank you

Are people suggesting that disabled people who don't pay on buses have to stand too?

I wouldn't move my 3yr old.

We are going round in circles. No wonder there are so many badly behaved children these days. Your right to have children does not abdicate you from your responsibility to society. I am obviously from a different, generally more civilised generation where this entitled behaviour would have been frowned upon.

But it's not necessary.

If I have my kids with me on a train and they have a seat, there is no need for me to put up with them on my lap.

Of course I would give up a seat for someone unable to stand - but the children aspect of that is irrelevant, I would do that whether or not my children were with me

I would and did when my DS was that age. But then I'm given up my seat for pregnant women or older people. My DS gives up his seat for women now.

I've had this a few times with my son. People expect him to sit on my knee or stand up so they can sit down. We've also been asked to move from disabled seating a few times. He has a disability and I'm his carer. I always find it really bizarre how offended people get when I explain that he needs his own seat. I get questioned on the nature of his disability, my parenting, manners, respecting elders. There's no harm in asking people but be prepared for them to say no.

No. Presumably parents have paid for a seat for the child and you can't allow a 3=year-old to stand because of safety issues. When travelling by train with DC (long ago) I paid for a seat, so they sat. Would expect my teenage DC to offer their seat to an elderly person, or a woman carrying a child.

Children should be put in overhead storage, people are acting like Children are actual people with thoughts and feelings but what do they contribute? so glad I was never a child...

I’m sorry, but why does it matter if they have paid for a ticket or not for the child? 60+ travel for free in London, do we expect them to give up their seats?

Eh? It has been the rule for decades (if not longer) on public transport that people give up their seats for the elderly and disabled.

When my daughter was 3 she was taller and heavier than most 4 year olds and certainly lots of 5 year olds and I'm very short so the lap dynamics didn't work too well. My feet don't even touch the floor if I sit at the back of the bus 🙈 She also doesn't like touching, hugging etc unless she asks for it because she's an autonomous human with her own brain 😉 it's also safer for a child to sit down on public transport and they can't walk or stand for as long as we can.

Well I think you just proved the point there. @GleisZwei

Growing up, it was seen as good manners to give up your seat for an older passenger ( and i mean probably 40+ in those days)

Depending on the journey length I would have sat my 3 year old on my knee but if it was a very long journey i may not have.

On public transport I have told my children to give up their seat for elderly passengers. I am utterly disgusted when i see a young person sitting and an elderly person standing.

As someone in their 40s I would be horrified if a young person got up for me! That would be mortifying!

Welcome to the tube during school holidays - when parents seem tot ink they 8+yr old darlings should have sets over the elderly, people on crutches etc.

as someone who commuted to work with 2 DCS to the work nursery, they sat on my lap unless the tube was uncrowded and at 4 alternated between lp and standing between my legs.

There does seem a belief that children should have seats because they are children and shcool holdays sees some fairly awful behaviour with adults literlly pushed out of the way so children cat sit, then they spend the journey up and down like yo yos!

Oh I agree - this we the 70s and 80s but now I would expect mine to get up for someone elderly , pregnant or disabled

I agree but lots of people are saying that if you haven't paid for a ticket, you aren't entitled to a seat. That's clearly a ridiculous position

In the UK we have such strange attitudes to children. In a lot of European countries, young children/young families are seen in the same category as older people - more vulnerable members of society who should actually be amongst the first in line for a seat. I absolutely would not ask my 3 yo to get up for an able bodied adult. I wouldn't get up for an able bodied adult either if I was there first - I imagine most people wouldn't. I would ask an older child to get up for an elderly person who someone who was pregnant, or better yet, I would get up myself.

We usually give seats to the kids and then stand ourselves. Having them on my lap feels less safe on most buses and trains.

Depends if they've paid for a seat for the child.

OK thanks. Common decency is collapsing. I have a Priorty card for trains because I have an invisible disability and can’t stand for long. The idea is if there are no seats, I am supposed to show my card to the people sitting in the seats marked ‘priority’ and they are supposed to give up their seats. There are signs all over explaining this. The first time
i used it, i had abuse hurled me. It was so embarrassing. Now I look for a member of staff on the platform to get me a seat.

Ask someone in a priority seat and don't pick on a child?

Yes, the person expecting to get someone else's seat is indeed selfish.

Right back at those selfish folk demanding other people's seats.

Yes but it shows that conventions are changing. I would expect a child under 5 to be offered a seat rather than standing on a packed train if they were unable to sit on their parent’s lap for any reason. Making them hold on could be quite dangerous.

on that basis, your mother’s right to have a child doesn’t mean you should get a seat either.