Parents Of Stockholm Your Attention Please

Put down your cappuccino and your Sudoku solving pencil and listen up. Here's a question for you, take your time answering it. (You have plenty, like 6 to 12 months of paid leave.) What do you do when you come to a subway car that is overcrowded and you have a baby carriage with you and there is no room for it?
Do you a) realize that you can't get on and try another car, b) realize you can't get on and wait for the next train, or c) ram it into people's legs, without apologizing, until they make enough room.

I don't care where you live, how much money you have, how much of a hurry you're in, how important you are, or how many kids you have. The answer is never, never, never ever c! Ever. How difficult is that to understand.

Really people, since when does having small children give you the right to do whatever the hell you feel like, with complete disregard for other people. Sure, you have children. A lot of people do. You're not special. You don't have everyone else's admiration, and you definitely haven't been granted everyone else's respect. Remember that. And remember this, strollers, carriages, prams, etc. are not weapons. They are devices created to transport your children with, not for ramming into people.

We, the rest of us who still exist even though you have babies, can actually feel it when you accidentally push your carriage into our backs on the escalator. And when we look back at you, looking for an apology for the fact that you almost put us in the hospital, don't give us one of those angry looks like it's our fault, or one of those smiley shrugs and motion to your kid. It's not funny, it really isn't.

You see parents, this is a city. Filled with a lot of people. Not just you and your little ones. You're actually in a minority. Most of us don't have little babies. Which means that you need to come to grips with the fact that we don't care about the fact that you have kids. Honestly, we still have jobs, and we still commute, and we still have a nervous system. The whole freakin' world didn't stop when you got your bundle of joy.

Ok, enough. The next time you bang your stroller into me and I don't get an apology, don't be surprised if I kick your stroller as hard as I can (not the baby people, the stroller) and give you a little smile and motion to your baby. Cause, I'm tired of your selfishness, and I'm tired of the fact that you don't show me the slightest bit of respect, and yet you expect me to help you get your pram on and off the bus, listen to your baby cry all through a movie I paid 120kr to see, and watch your kids run around the pub knocking over stuff at 11 PM on a Friday night.

Alright, go back to your cappuccino and Sudoku.

K. Panda