Two comments for the most recent poster:
1. The posts you are replying to were most recently posted in March of 2008, a year and a half ago.
2. All of us who have traveled on Amtrak long distance trains for any length of time have witnessed out-of-control children whose parents truly looked as if they cared not one whit about the havoc and distress those children were wreaking on their fellow passengers. Some of those children, quite frankly needed to be on a leash, or in a cage, their behavior was so uncontrolled and disruptive. And that is the fault of the parents. If you are going to have children, you also are responsible for their behavior.
Some parents do indeed have well-disciplined, well-mannered children. and if that includes yours, you have our grateful thanks, and the thanks of all the others who were passengers when you traveled. And, when they are grown, you will have their thanks, and the thanks of THEIR children, because you taught your own children discipline and manners and therefore they knew what to teach and how to teach it
We are not child-haters. If anything, we despise those PARENTS who refuse to instill proper discipline in their children. If there was such a thing as a parent license, there are an awful lot of parents who should not have been given that license. The unfortunate end result is a grown-up with little or no social skills, who cannot behave appropriately in a work situation, and likely has a very difficult time finding and keeping a marriage partner. And if those persons become parents, there is then a VERY steep and immediate learning curve necessary if their children are not to turn out like they themselves did.