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@winniebee: I agree. If you want a peaceful ride- grab a cab!

You can only do so much! And what were they supposed to do? get off and walk home which may have been several miles? I think that's crazy. Sure it's not fun listening to a child cry but I think it's less fun for the parent trying to wrangle a toddler in a crowded subway/plane/etc... You can't control a child - a parent can only do so much.

I feel for them and hope they didn't let that lady's comments get to them. It sounds as if they were doing the best they could.

I'd be so embarrassed but I would not get off the train either. If the parents were doing everything they could, then really, there's nothing else you can ask. That lady was more than welcome to switch cars at the next stop if she was so bothered but families with young children should not be forced to prolong their journey because they have an unhappy toddler.

That being said, it's a crappy situation to be in and is one of my worst nightmares when travelling on public transport with LO! As a passenger though, I wouldn't do anything other than provide sympathetic looks to the parents and see if there was anything I could do to help them out.

DH just went through this last night with LO. He tried switching cars at each stop, singing, taking her out of the stroller but she didn't stop for a while. Luckily he had nice people on the train and this couple tried making funny faces at LO to help.

It's public transportation, only when someone gets rid of the kids selling candy, the singers and poets, the homeless and beggars, the people who play their music for the whole car to hear, and the Showtime dancers who flip dangerously close to people's heads can someone even begin to think about a parent taking a screaming child off the train. We all pay our fare and have to deal with the noise of the train. Perhaps if there was a quiet car but there's not.

Man, that old lady would've gotten it from me.

I probably would've told the old lady to shove it. And that's putting it mildly. What, you've never been around an inconsolable toddler?? Give it a rest, they were trying. I think it's more annoying when people blast music on the bus, at least that they can control!

If my LO had a tantrum on the subway, I would try to get off at the next stop. My LO needs time to cool off and calm down, and it's difficult under pressure with all eyes on you. I would do it out of consideration of the other passengers and also for my LO's sake. Once calm, I would just on the next train back to our destination.

But... I would not appreciate someone woman saying that to me. As a parent, it's difficult to deal with tantrums. We try our best to do what we can, and I certainly don't need someone voicing their opinions without any compassion.

I keep thinking about this-- I hope I would have had the guts to say something to the old lady about backing off, or at least gone over and said something nice to the parents.

I ride the subway multiple times a day. I don't have my own kids (yet!) but I sure do hear a lot of crying kids on the trains. I think that woman was totally out of line. The parents were obviously trying, I'm sure they were mortified, and really it makes up such a small part of that older woman's day. A little sympathy goes a long way. And I'd much prefer a crying child over the scary guy yelling obscenities at me on the train the other day!

I think it depends on the child, if you know your kid will freak out for a few minutes then relAx I'd stay put. If you have a kid who's meltdowns are usually half hour ordeals, I'd get off.

They probably are already on their way home and know that their kid is annoying....what can they do but take the kid home? That lady was out of line.

If I couldn't calm him down, all the more reason to get home quickly, I would have stayed. The lady probably would have gotten an ear full of nastiness from me too. I expect someone to step outside in a restaurant, but not on PUBLIC transportation.

I would have definitely stayed on the train. When I was doing an internship in NYC, people were often walking through the car yelling for money or about religion, or attempting to play an instrument to collect money, etc while I was on my way home. Would that lady tell those people to shut it? Maybe, but chances are they wouldn't! I would have ignored her, and stayed on.

90 degrees out and the parents were trying. I would feel ultra bad until I hear the older lady preaching. That would piss me off so much, I'd purposely go near her! The nerve of some ppl! It's public transportation. Grr.

Totally agree with others. Between the preaching, singing and regular people carrying on conversations loud enough for everyone to hear, the screaming toddler isn't so bad. Some people are persistently cranky and forget that they were probably in the same situation at some point in their life!

Oy, how horrible for that woman to pile on to an already stressful situation for the parents. I wouldn't get off the train, like others said it's just the tradeoff for using public transportation and that family has every right to get where they need to go. I seem to always get stuck on the subway with loud preachy people though - I wouldn't mind if she told them off!

That's awful. I know how mortified i am when LO cries/fusses on the train, but no way would i even think of getting off. You want to get home as soon as possible, because that's really when he/she will get back to normal.

I wish someone had said something in defense of those parents.

@mrbee: I know this wasn't directed at me, but I would have said something like "you can see the parents are trying their best to calm their baby and unfortunately, comments like yours are not helping. If you don't have anything helpful to contribute, please refrain from making any comment at all."

@mrbee: Something like what @Ree723: said (great response). I don't think it's necessary to be rude to the woman just because she has no compassion, but as the parent who is having to deal with a stressful situation, i would feel very grateful to hear that not everyone is judging me (and my family). I would be too stressed to notice the sympathetic glances, and would assume everyone was glaring at me!

If it was 90° outside, then the NYC subway platform was probably at like 120°! I hated riding the subway when it was hot!

Fortunately, we have only had one really bad public transit episode when DS was about 9 months old. He was WAILING on the NYC subway on the way home one day. I'm sure people would have liked for us to get off, but there was no way we were going to prolong our personal agony and I was trying everything I could to get him to be quiet. He eventually fell asleep about 2 stops from our apartment. I agree with a lot of other people, it's a public space and you have every right to be there as much as the candy sellers, singers, preachers, crazies, panhandlers, etc. It's not a good situation, but it's real life and you and other passengers just have to deal with it.