My daughter and I take the public transportation daily. I have a love and hate relationship with it, especially now that I take it with my daughter. Lily loves public transportation. Seeing so many people amazes her. She loves going out and traveling from place to place. Staring out the window of the bus or the train makes her happy. I in the other hand, have a different experience with public transportation. Most times the public transportation is great, the bus/train not full with people, which is good because we are able to grab a seat. Then there are other times where it is completely full that we cannot even get on the bus. When this happens Lily has a tendency to scream “Wait bus!” I have to explain to Lily that it is fine that the bus left, we will get on the next bus.
On a busy bus day we had, Lily had actually surprised me. Lily and I had entered a full bus where there were no seats available for us. I thought to myself “great now I have to stand up while holding lily in my arms.” After few stops, Lily looked around and pointed at a lady sitting down in the front and said “you, my seat!” I gasp and thought this is embarrassing but awesome. The lady looking at lily smiled and said “you want this seat? Here.” I was glad that she did this. I would not have been able to. It is hard at times to find a seat when we are taking public transportation. It surprises me that people do not offer a seat for a child. When I see that another person with a child get on the bus and no one offers a seat, I stand and ask the person if they want the child to share the seat with my daughter (since Lily is so tiny).
Lily and I have built relationship with some of the frequent bus riders. We started to take public transportation when she was six months old. Lily will be two this September. Most of the frequent bus riders say hi and know us. We exchange a few words during the ride. Lily has started to know this nice people. Even the bus drivers recognize us too. When lily used to go to daycare in a stroller, the bus driver always had the front seat up for us. On days we would not take the bus, the driver would say the next day “Hey, I had the seat up for you girls yesterday, what happened?” Lily loves all of this. She likes being noticed. I like taking the public transportation but there are also days I don’t. I just try my best to plan the ride and take it at their best times to avoid the struggle for me and avoid having an upset baby.
Do your kids like public transportation as much as Lily does?
Stronger Generations Initiative 