Passenger Telling Mom Her Kids Need To 'Keep It Down' on Train Cheered

A woman has been cheered for telling a mom to keep her kids quiet on a train.

In a post on the discussion site Mumsnet with more than 380 replies, user Wiennetta shared how she ended up in an argument during her journey.

The woman explained she had booked a seat on a "quiet carriage" to get some work done, but when she got on the train, on the other side of the aisle was a mom with a 2-year-old watching an iPad and another child running up and down and screaming.

"I was trying to concentrate on something, listening on my headphones and politely asked the mom if they could keep it down—at this point the kid was literally next to my seat, in the aisle, jumping up and down and shouting. She just said, 'He's two, what do you expect me to do?'" explained the woman.

"I mean they're kids, they're little, they're bored. But am I being unreasonable in thinking the parents should at least try and moderate their behavior, remind them to be quiet, try and get them to sit down and do something a bit calmer? Even if it's not always successful?" asked the traveler. "Or preferably not book the bloody quiet carriage."

Elizabeth Wyse, editorial director of Debretts etiquette coaching company, told Newsweek: "You are certainly well within your rights to ask parents to keep their children quiet if you are in a quiet carriage on a train—they are violating the rules of the carriage and disrupting all the passengers who have opted for a noise-free environment, which is unacceptable."

While Wyse agreed that in settings like a quiet train carriage, or perhaps an art gallery, public meeting or church, it is perfectly acceptable to politely mention the noise, in other public settings it is a good idea to exercise tolerance toward parents.

"Shooting them poisonous looks or tut tutting when their children start to get noisy may well exacerbate the situation," said Wyse. "We all know that noisy children can be hard to calm down, and the expectation is that the parents will do the best they can and, if things get out of hand, will take their children outside if possible."

Similarly, Wyse said it is important that parents are aware of the impact their children could be having in a public space. "Good manners are all about observing how your—and your children's—behavior affect the people around you. Parents must exercise a certain amount of empathy and imagination to assess just how disturbing their children's behavior is," she said.

In hundreds of comments on the post, other Mumsnet users agreed that the mom should have been more proactive in keeping her children quiet.

"I mean he's going to make a bit of noise at 2, but shouting and screaming, iPad in full volume is unnecessary and she should be doing something about it," said one reply.

Another Mumsnet user wrote: "Have a word with her and don't back down. She's clearly one of these people that thinks she can get away with anything because she had a kid with her. Don't let her ruin your day because she's a bad mother."

In a later update, the poster explained that rather than escalate the situation she simply moved to another seat, but was pleased that others agreed that she was right to be upset.

Newsweek was not able to verify the details of this case.