NYC Subway Series: Tourist kid almost trampled at 74th St Jackson Heights.

A middle aged man, woman, and 3 younger kids. One probably 11, the other 8, and the youngest maybe 5. Clearly they have arrived from a trip somewhere, or perhaps they are here for vacation? In any case welcome to NYC. Arriving during rush hour though is a bad way to either start or end your trip in my opinion.

In any case the E train has been slow today so there is a buildup of people at the 74th street station. One of their kids is sitting on the floor behind a little bag and he’s practically invisible behind one of their luggage bags.

Enter the massive rush of people. As they try to get on the train the kid realizes he’s about to get trampled if he doesn’t get out of the way, dad shouts to him “come over here”, the kid attempts to rise about 3 times, but he cannot. The flow of people keeps knocking him back, uh oh. The kid starts to panic, I see it in his eyes, fortunately nothing happens to him, and before anyone steps on him they see him. Eventually he gets to his feet, a nice young haitian man grabs the little dude and guides him to dad before he gets hurt.

Point?

1) Watch your kids!!!

2) Watch your kids!!!

3) Watch your kids!!!

Oh, and try not to arrive here during rush hour with a bunch of luggage.

*Fast forward several stops*

The dad just provided instructions to the bigger kid: “Christopher, you will have to lead the way, if people are not exiting say ‘excuse me’ and get off the train and we will all follow”.

Good job dad, it not only informs the kid, but also everyone else on the train that you and your family along with your massive luggage are making your way out. That’s better planning and somewhat makes up for the bad planning in arriving during rush hour and almost letting your kid trampled.

When my son was smaller and he rode the train with me, even now, I shield and protect him on a crowded train. Watch out for your kids. Today worked out for Christopher and his brothers, but that could have been ugly. Be careful.

I’d like to include in this entry a big F you to the people that trampled someone in Walmart during some damn holiday sale in recent times. After seeing this happen today, I realized how easily it can happen, but I also that it could be prevented. Idiots.