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Comment by souprock | Hacker News Reader

To safely "do anything with their kids" a car is very useful. Depending on the ages of the kids...

Kids need to bring stuff. That could be hockey equipment, a drum set, or a clean playpen.

Kids wander off if not contained. A kid may get off a subway at the wrong stop, lost in the crowd, along as the rest of the family continues on down the line. A kid may fall onto the tracks.

Kids should be kept from licking public spaces. Kids should be kept from eating food found on the ground. Kids should not be able to play with hypodermic needles.

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As a lifelong car-free European this almost reads like a parody, although I understand how you might get accustomed to a mindset like that.

I neither want nor need to be a taxi driver for my kids. From the age of seven they have been perfectly capable of getting to school, orchestra practice and sports by themselves using the subway, local trains and buses. The drum kits and equipment can be stored on location, and whatever they need to carry (the cello is heavy) builds strength or can be wheeled.

At their age, back in the day of no smartphones, if I got lost in the city I could ask any adult for help, and they would be delighted to help me.

Sounds like some paranoid parenting that seems to be in style right now. In Tokyo kids take the subway by themselves as young as age 9. In denser cities the density helps in that other people help socialize/watch your kids and they can bike around to their friends place when they are older. As someone who grew up in a denser area, then moved to a sprawly suburb where you were dependent on your parents for getting you around, and lack of public space made activities revolve around consumerism, I greatly preferred the dense area.

Kids aren't born at that age. It takes 9 years. How are the little ones supposed to travel?

At one time, mine were these ages: 8, 6, 4, 2, 2, 0

Doing that on the subway would be nuts.

I actually know somebody who, as a kid, got off the subway at the wrong stop. That really happens. The crowd seems to be leaving, the kid goes, and before the parents can react the subway is moving again.

Activities need not revolve around consumerism. Find a less-densely populated area, and there will be wild space like forests and streams. Backyards can be pretty big too. Consumerism is more of a city thing, since there is no backyard and no forest.

If you have time to drive them somewhere you also have time to take them via public transit in a well connected city.

Absolutely nothing is "nuts" about taking six kids on the subway, I really have zero idea where that idea is coming from - I just can't understand it. My grandma never knew how to drive and she would take my cousins, siblings, and I all around town on the bus. No big deal at all, totally normal. There would be somewhere around 1-8 kids at any given time.

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