Even during the boom times, raising a family in New York City wasn’t easy. The apartment is small, the neighbors don’t like the noise, and the sidewalks are too narrow for a stroller.
But today, with subway disruptions, parents are facing another logistical headache. How can my growing child get around town, whether by public transport, on foot, or in a car, without putting himself at risk?
For two generations, suburban children lost the freedom to move independently. Teens who once walked or biked to school are now riding school buses or being driven to school by their parents.
That’s not good. Children cannot develop properly if they are unable to take some risks and make some decisions outside of adult supervision.
However, in urban areas, children still enjoy some autonomy, mainly due to the transportation system.
Of the 1.3 million students from elementary school to high school, only 150,000 ride yellow buses.
Yes, some private schools arrange their own transportation and the parent (or nanny) may drive the child.
But the remaining hundreds of thousands of people use free city-issued Metrocards to take subways, buses, or walk.
So in New York City, from Jackson Heights to the Upper West Side to Jamaica, it’s not uncommon to see car-dependent suburbs that are becoming increasingly rare. Teens and even pre-teens ride trains in small groups or alone. , there is no parent helicopter nearby.
As the school year progresses, the degree of freedom increases, and children naturally develop a sense of independence.
However, now that children have fully returned to their daily lives after the coronavirus pandemic subsides, parents are faced with new fears never experienced in a generation, such as traffic problems and crime.
Felony violence in the metro is still 61% higher than in 2019. Also, children are not safe from attack just because they are children.
life is in danger
With more children bringing weapons on public transport, parents have to fear that teenage fights could turn deadly. In 2022, 15-year-old Jayjon Barnett was shot and killed during a fight on a Queens A train after school.
Last fall, a 13-year-old boy was fatally stabbed by a teenage assailant on an MTA bus.
Furthermore, there are accidents. At least four teenagers have died from “subway surfing” in less than a year.
No, city government can’t prevent all stupidity. But some of this stupidity can be prevented by police responding more aggressively to teens.
Even though students have Metrocards, many simply go through the exit gate. Stopping them midway and checking for knives or guns may interrupt some of the violence.
Even when police ask children if they intend to take videos of themselves surfing on the subway, or even show them videos of the aftermath of such incidents, they can be alarmed, trying to impress their friends. Even a single child who is present may be deterred from reckless behavior.
Parents also have to worry about their children becoming victims of adult crime or insanity.
My colleague has a harrowing story to tell. His son, Goran, 18, just graduated from high school and now works at an ice cream shop on the Lower East Side.
On February 21, at approximately 10:30 p.m., he was randomly assaulted on the 1st Avenue platform while waiting to board the L train bound for Williamsburg in Brooklyn.
The assault did not appear in police statistics because Golan did not file a report, which is often not the case.
But for parents who have raised their children safely for 18 years, it’s unsettling to see their first night-time transportation experience as an adult become violent.
Another colleague takes her 16-year-old daughter to high school on a 90-minute express bus ride from Queens to Manhattan.
But my daughter can’t avoid the subway completely.
“She’s afraid of it,” says my colleague.
During one short ride, an assailant threw liquid on her and her classmates.
The girl’s younger sister is applying to high school, and she and her mother are narrowing down their options to schools they can attend without having to take the subway.
Curbed recently published an article about a new phenomenon called “Teens and Young Adults.” [who] They experience subway-related anxiety, often to the point of refusing to ride and sometimes requiring medical treatment. ”
The strangest thing about Curbed’s work is not the fundamentally insane behavior on the subway that kids want to avoid, but the parents who seem to think their kids are the problem. This means constantly having to move around passed out drug users and nearly naked men. , sexual harassment, and other “disturbing encounters,” such as an unfazed person yelling racial slurs.
Hmm: Why didn’t this pathology of “subway anxiety” among tweens and teens exist five years ago?
Have children gone insane, or have adults, many of whom accept as normal what preteens and teens consider legitimately unacceptable?
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor for the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.
