Children Riding Marta

[cqholt]

I can tell you that if anything or anyone was to bother a child on MARTA, the whole rail car would defend them. Riders look out for each other on MARTA, unless that person is acting a fool, and watch each others backs.

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

My wife and I allow it, but we are not over protective parents. When our son rides MARTA to/from school he is normally with a friend and most people will watch over children more here than other cities.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

I guess we have different perspectives on that. You see it as a bad and scary thing and I do not. I feel that I am a more independent and responsible adult because of my experiences growing up in Chicago. I knew very few kids who did not ride transit in Chicago growing up.

As a parent, one of your biggest challenges is deciding how much freedom to give your kids and when to give it. Constant anxiety comes with the territory. But you gotta do it. Educate them, but don't overprotect. To do so often hobbles them later.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

As a parent, one of your biggest challenges is deciding how much freedom to give your kids and when to give it. Constant anxiety comes with the territory. But you gotta do it. Educate them, but don't overprotect. To do so often hobbles them later.

Maybe one can call my parents crappy, but the only time we ever rode the bus with our parents was if were we going someplace with them specifically. Other than that, we rode transit to school on our own and when we hung out on weekends, whether it was going to the mall, downtown to hang out and eat or go see a movie, we went on transit on our own--and this was from a very young age. And all this was during a time when the crime was worse than it is now.

Our parents gave us freedoms to go out and have fun and we never got hurt or went looking for trouble. My girlfriends whose parents were strict and did not let them go places and made them stay home, their parents talked about how bad my parents were for letting me roam about so freely, yet it was my friends who had strict upbringings who weren't allowed to take transit alone were the ones who ended up pregnant as teens.They were the ones sneaking boys in the house and having sex, while I was out and about exploring the city on CTA, having fun, going to the lake, enjoying the architecture around the city, going to the museums and window shopping downtown.

I think having the freedom to go around the city on transit as a kid is what made me cultured and kept me busy because there was so much to explore.

Having tough restrictions on kids can backfire if you don't let them have some freedoms. Letting kids ride transit and teaching them street smarts teaches them independence and helps them explore the world around them.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

As a parent, one of your biggest challenges is deciding how much freedom to give your kids and when to give it. Constant anxiety comes with the territory. But you gotta do it. Educate them, but don't overprotect. To do so often hobbles them later.

yes, yes, yes! Freedom within limits is a GOOD thing.

[No2Monsanto]

Originally Posted by JoeFromLI

Anybody who allows their child on a bus or train under 18 unaccompanied should have their children taken away

Under EIGHTEEN??!! Paahhhh. That's laughable.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by No2Monsanto

Under EIGHTEEN??!! Paahhhh. That's laughable.

Right. You can go kill as many people as you want in a war tomorrow, but today you aren't even allowed on a subway. That makes no sense at all.

A 16 year old is a zillion times more likely to get killed or injured driving a car than riding MARTA.

[Sammy215267]

Originally Posted by glovenyc

Growing up in Queens back in the mid-70s, I went to school maybe 10 miles from home. Elementary school (grades 1-6) we would take a school bus, where the stop was about 2 blocks from my house. When I entered Junior High School (grades 7-9), there were no more school buses I was issued a bus pass and a subway pass. We were 11-12 years old, taking the subway in NYC back in the late 70s (the most dangerous period in the history of that city) and I am here to talk about it today. Nowadays kids can't tie there shoes without mommy and daddy coaching them along the way. I learned many good lessons about human behavior being a little independent as a child, helped me become the man I am today. We survived riding the subways, not being forced into a child seat until the age of 18, damn there weren't even seat belts in most cars. We also played all day with other children outside, instead of play dates and/or video games in the house all day. Actually played pick-up basketball, football, baseball/softball/stickball instead of exclusively being in AAU type leagues. Nowadays some of these kids will be handicapped once they leave the nest, it's scary.

I had the same growing up here in Philly. My Elem- Middle school years to 7th grade....Philly schools throw you off the bus after 6th grade unless you have a disability....SEPTA was the key.I studied and always knew all the routes, subway,trolley, railroad lines at the earliest of 5-6 years old....i took the trolley , subway, bus to school the first time when i was 9 by myself. ( My school was over 13 miles away....required me to take three things the trolley, subway, bus) my mother trusted me because i had a sense of my way around the system. I was not nervous or scared. I think coming from big transit cities its very very normal for kids to take the transit system by themselves...i have seen little kids like 6 years old riding by themselves. Truthfully to me it gives kids a sense of independence at a young age .... to navigate on the subways, trolleys, and buses you learn your way around your city. SEPTA also has tons of school trip routes that take the students from the schools to transportation centers. The school gave us tokens/ school passes to ride SEPTA for the students who lived more then 1.5 miles away.

I was honestly glad to not get a ride from / to school....i think that would be so boring to me honestly. I loved the transit system so much....and some kids have no choice...esp if the parent (s) dont have a car, and have to be to work early. My mom would leave the house before we left out for school so she couldn't take us. It was apart of my kids old enough and KNOW THE SYSTEM to get around.

Alot of kids don't go to schools in their neighborhood and most travel across , up, down the city.
So yeah the person who said kids under 18 should not ride alone...needs to shove it. Try telling that to the 100,000+ students parents who work early, don't have a car and the kids have no choice but to take the transit system. I'm 24 i actually miss my school days riding with my friends on the bus, subway to and from school. We had fun, silly times...seen some crazy stuff like fights, smoking on the trolley, and some other crazy nonsense...i came out fine. ;-)