Traveling Moms

I feel really bad for the mothers I see traveling via bus to or from the city. They're usually the only parent/adult trying to wrangle various aged children, strollers and other accessories.

Today, a young mother got on the bus in Oakland. First, her one daughter, who appeared to be about three ran up onto the bus and disappeared into the back of the bus somewhere. Then she had to lift up her other daughter, a very tiny baby in a carrier, to a helpful rider who took the baby carrier and placed it in the seat. Next she struggles to drag a stroller (although it was folded up, it still appeared to be massive) up the bus steps behind her and shove it into the seat across the aisle from where her little baby had been placed. She pays and then calls for her first daughter to come out of hiding on the back of the bus and move up next to her, the baby and the stroller. After a few stern words, the little girl meanders up front and takes a seat next to the colossal stroller.

What a cumbersome task all this seems...and here I thought it was a pain to commute without the added struggle that this poor young woman had to deal with.