Parenting for Dummies

There was a minor scare in the metro this evening. A guy pushing his baby in a stroller decided to attempt a last-minute boarding as the automatic doors were closing. Rather than use his hand or foot to trip the sensors that cause the doors to re-open, he instead used the stroller (and thus the baby). Unfortunately, the doors continued to close and pinned the stroller while he remained outside.

While I assume there’s a safety mechanism in place that prevents the metro from running if an obstruction is blocking a door, I don’t think I’d test this assumption with my kid’s life. As there’s no one actually conducting the metro (at least on-site), who knows what could go wrong. At best, you’re relying on a computer or a metro operator in a room somewhere else to respond appropriately to the situation in a matter of seconds.

Apparently the others around me had the same concern as a group of us raced over to pry open the doors as the father stood outside frantically trying to do the same. Fortunately, we were able to finally get the doors open and whatever safety mechanism is in fact in place seemed to work appropriately as the metro never budged from the station.

I just hope the father learned his lesson. Something tells me he’s not going to tell his wife about this little adventure (assuming he wants to live, that is…).