Do you let your toddler eat/drink on Metro?

[Anonymous]

I am a big fan of WMATA's no drinking/eating rule, and am convinced that the trains would be absolutely disgusting if they allowed food and beverages, even with their current lax implementation. (I'd make an exception for water, though, if I was in charge. But I'm not.)

However, I do let my toddler drink water on the Metro. It's in a spill-proof bottle, and it's WATER. Giving her her water bottle occupies her on the Metro with its increasingly long waits due to track work. So I've managed to justify breaking the rules with water on the Metro and don't even really question myself on that.

But today, my 2-year old accidently glimpsed the goldfish crackers in our backpack, and started screaming for crackers. I had two choices -- discreetly give her some crackers, or ride with a screaming toddler on the train. (OK, I admittedly had a 3rd choice -- get off the train with my screaming toddler. But with the holiday schedule and track work, that could have delayed our return home 30 minutes or more.)

So I gave her the crackers. And I'll admit that at least two of them fell between the seat and the wall, which is the whole reason for the rule in the first place.

Do you let your toddler eat or drink on the Metro or bus?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a big fan of WMATA's no drinking/eating rule, and am convinced that the trains would be absolutely disgusting if they allowed food and beverages, even with their current lax implementation. (I'd make an exception for water, though, if I was in charge. But I'm not.)

However, I do let my toddler drink water on the Metro. It's in a spill-proof bottle, and it's WATER. Giving her her water bottle occupies her on the Metro with its increasingly long waits due to track work. So I've managed to justify breaking the rules with water on the Metro and don't even really question myself on that.

But today, my 2-year old accidently glimpsed the goldfish crackers in our backpack, and started screaming for crackers. I had two choices -- discreetly give her some crackers, or ride with a screaming toddler on the train. (OK, I admittedly had a 3rd choice -- get off the train with my screaming toddler. But with the holiday schedule and track work, that could have delayed our return home 30 minutes or more.)

So I gave her the crackers. And I'll admit that at least two of them fell between the seat and the wall, which is the whole reason for the rule in the first place.

Do you let your toddler eat or drink on the Metro or bus?

I'm sure the other passengers were more than happy to look the other way in this case. Some rules were meant to be broken, eh?

[Anonymous]

I do the same thing in screaming scenarios. I just let him have one piece at a time, though, so I try to reduce the chances of spilling and also the chances of being caught and getting a fine.

[Anonymous]

Drinks - yes. Snacks - we try not to unless it's a long trip then we may pull out a non-messy snack.

I drink on the metro - it's just water in a reusable water bottle. I think it's ridiculous to prohibit water, especially during the summer.

[Anonymous]

I totally would give the crackers.

I see a lot of parents commuting on metro with tired kids at the end of the work day, and I also see a fair amount of discreet snacking, and bless all of you for keeping a sane and happy kid and making sure that our commutes home are not a scream-fest.

[Anonymous]

I support Metro's no food/beverage consumption law because it keeps vermin down and cleaning costs more reasonable. I have no issue with water bottles. But inexplicably Metro allows riders to carry flimsy coffee cups on board as long as riders don't drink from them. Having been splattered with hot coffee when a "surfing" rider was unable to juggle briefcase, smart device and coffee container, I think that Metro should ban hot beverage containers, period. A dropped coffee mug creates a real mess and can splatter and burn other riders. This is a more acute safety issue than a french fry is a sanitation problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I support Metro's no food/beverage consumption law because it keeps vermin down and cleaning costs more reasonable. I have no issue with water bottles. But inexplicably Metro allows riders to carry flimsy coffee cups on board as long as riders don't drink from them. Having been splattered with hot coffee when a "surfing" rider was unable to juggle briefcase, smart device and coffee container, I think that Metro should ban hot beverage containers, period. A dropped coffee mug creates a real mess and can splatter and burn other riders. This is a more acute safety issue than a french fry is a sanitation problem.

I tend to agree. Plus - I see a lot of people who do drink from them and then often they will leave it on the seat or the floor when they leave (sometimes with a little bit of coffee still in them).

The food rules don't seem well enforced and the coffee clause seems as though it must be impossible to enforce. I often see glass snapple jars and plastic bottles rolling around on the floor or tucked away, as well as pizza boxes, McDonalds bags, etc.

[Anonymous]

Water, yes. Snacks, generally no. I try to distract in other ways instead. If I do have to give a snack, I make sure to pick any up that fall on the floor. Which grosses me out. Hence my preference not to give snacks.

[Anonymous]

I would do my best not to feed my kids on metro, but they're now older than 2 and should be able to manage a trip without a tantrum. What you did was fine. It's teens and adults eating fried chicken and chips and fries and tossing their trash on the floor that are the problem, not a toddler who drops a goldfish cracker or 2.

[Anonymous]

Nope- not drinks nor snacks. I'm a rule follower. Also, like having clean trains and hate seeing all those goldfish crackers that have been run over by strollers and ground into the carpet.

[Anonymous]

Is the food/drink rule for just on the train or in the station and/or the platforms?

[Anonymous]

PP - no food/drink in station or platforms. I've been known to finish a soda on my way down the escalator, though.

My 2-year-old would understand "no eating on the train." But I don't Metro with him often so I sympathize.

[Anonymous]

We metro'd with our three children this weekend down to DC - from Shady Grove - long day of museums and walking. I did let them have a snack on the way home - they were tired and starving. They are little - 4.5, 2.5 and 1 and would've totally melted down if no food was provided during the time in which we finally sat down for the day! I did feed them sort of discreetly and didn't hand them each a bowl of their own snack. I agree with their rules and the reasons behind them but feel that some circumstances are beyond the snack rule...

[Anonymous]

I commuted for two years with DC on metro. As he got older I had to allow snacks even though I was worried about the germ factor. We were commuting home at snack time, it occupied him when he otherwise wanted to get up and play, and I always cleaned up after us. I learned my lesson about not having a snack when we got stuck for 45 extra minutes (in addition to our hour commute) one day on the red line. From that point on I always has food on metro.

[Anonymous]

I believe there is also a handicap rule for certain seats - no one seems to follow that either. So, my kid will get her snacks (she's 15 months).