Small Places is a newsletter about children’s liberation and children’s rights by Eloise Rickman, author of It’s Not Fair, a ‘groundbreaking’ manifesto for children’s liberation.
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My book is out! Four years of work and now it’s out in the world doing its thing. What a ride.
I’ve been getting the best messages from keen readers telling me how impactful they are finding it. Some of my favourites are from people who are already noticing that they are becoming attuned to the adultism which surrounds us in everyday life.
This is what one person wrote to me:
You might be reading this thinking, why is this adultism? This is surely just a space-saving mechanism to prevent overcrowding on busy trains - it’s not that deep.
But this is absolutely adultism in action. I’m convinced of this because of one simple reason: some train lines (mostly in other countries) manage to have dedicated spaces for children and families.
The Campaign for Family Friendly Trains offers some amazing case studies including a train with a ball pit (!), trains with mini playgrounds and soft-play zones, and trains with spaces solely reserved for buggies and young families.
From their website:
‘Across Europe there are many examples of family-friendly facilities on trains. Countries such as Germany, Austria, France, Finland and Italy have dedicated spaces for pushchairs at a minimum and many of these countries have designated areas or whole carriages suitable for families, where young children can crawl, walk and play.’
It’s a deliberate choice not to provide facilities for younger passengers. And as you can see from their score-card, most British trains are doing pretty terribly, with none scoring above a 5/10.
What can we do about it?
Family Friendly trains have a super easy to follow template for writing to MPs (if you’re in the UK, wait until your new MP has been elected in the upcoming election first!).
And perhaps most importantly, we can keep pointing out adultism wherever we find it.
How have you found public transport with children?
Do you live somewhere where children are actively considered by public transport providers? Or do some serious changes need to be made?
I’d love it if you shared your experiences - along with any tips for fellow parent passengers - in the comments!
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My new book It’s Not Fair: why it’s time for a grown-up conversation about how adults treat children is out now.
If you’re quick, you can get a signed copy - complete with an exclusive holographic child liberation sticker - from the LRB bookshop.
We’re a non-driving family and therefore reliant on public transport, plus my 12yo has had a special interest in trains since he was a toddler. I’m not sure I’ve come across any UK public transport company that has really thought about children beyond providing novelty tickets for under 5s and the occasional activity pack. I wish more stations had play areas, Kings Cross has one but I’ve seen adults without kids using the seating in there and there not being any room for families. My son loves playing city simulation games and always puts a playpark outside the stations!
Going to give a shout out to the Avanti staff at Glasgow for my experience last year.
Me, my wife and daughter (7 at the time) were heading down to Preston and then on to Ribby Hall. Sadly, someone in the Lake District took their own life that morning by jumping on the tracks, leading to an indefinite delay.
My daughter was getting really distressed and, by the time we were in a queue of grown ups (She was the only child) for what we thought were rail-replacement coaches, was in tears. One of the Avanti service team came over and knelt down beside her so as to get eye level and asked her what was wrong. My wee one said she was worried she wasn't going to get to her holiday. The Avanti person took us past the rest of the queue ("I am going to help this family and then will be right back with you") and put us in a taxi to Preston. My daughter still talks about the "nice lady" and the time she took a taxi to England to this day!