Clearly, many Philadelphia school students use SEPTA to get to and from school and most of them do that without incident. But there have also been several highly-publicized incidents of violence, especially along the Broad Street line.
As a teenager, I took the train from my home in Lower Merion to visit friends in Bucks County; Princeton, New Jersey; and even New York. But that was then. This is now. My high-school-aged sons have take trains into the city to attend concerts, but usually with friends, not alone. And as I've mentioned before in this blog, the Buckman Boys are football players, not the size that most bullies would choose to mess with.
Most of my colleagues urged the 15-year-old's mother to allow him to take the train - especially if he thought he could handle it. Still she was reluctant. And it's totally understandable. As parents, we all want to protect our children as much as we possibly can. But at some point, we have to take the hardest step in parenting: Giving Up Control. Another colleague asked her, if he was too young and vulnerable at 15, would it be suddenly OK at 16? Or 17? Or 18? By 18, the young man in question will likely be living on his own in college somewhere. And as the parent of an 18-year-old, I can attest that the years between 15 and 18 fly by. Some online experts suggest parents take the ride first with the child/teen and then let them do it themselves.
Ultimately, the decision is up to my colleague, her husband and her son. And I'm sure they'll do what they consider best. And I'm also sure that at some point, he'll be taking the train himself. It just goes to show that all parents have their own comfort levels. And as our family's pediatrician once told me, as long as you act and make decisions with love and with your child's best interest at heart, chances are you won't mess them up too bad. At least, I hope that's true...
Click here for some online comments (from Canada) on the subject of teens traveling alone on public transit.
Click here for regulations from Amtrak and Greyhound.
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