East coast advice.

Is free, and people aren't afraid to give it. I just needed a chance to offer my gratitude:

Dear Old Man on the D.C. Metro,
Thank you so much for telling me how unsafe it was for me to have my child and a stroller on the escalator. Your stupid station didn't have an elevator, and when I asked the savvy metro attendant, she didn't know where it was and told me to cross the street and see if the mall had one. I decided to have 3 competent adults hold the stroller as I held my child, but I know now that your judgment was superior to my own. I am so grateful for you, for telling me how ridiculously unsafe my parenting was. I never would have known had it not been for you! Phew, Logan is safe now thanks to your keen (and quick) judgment!

Dear Crusty woman in the wheel chair at Metro Center Station,
Thank you endlessly for chastising me for choosing to NOT cram my stroller onto an already crowded elevator. I realize now that my choice to wait an additional 68 seconds for the metro elevator to come back up one floor for me was too long and far too inconvenient for you. I can't tell you how much I appreciated and learned from your demonstration of how I could have "jack-knifed," to use your word, myself and the stroller into the small confined space. This would've allowed you to take the elevator sooner, and I see now how important that 68 seconds was to you. I am most grateful to your condescending tone and speech which you used in our conversation; I wouldn't have understood you otherwise. When I ride the metro elevator tomorrow, I will watch for you and if you are present I will be sure to cram my pregnant parental-skill lacking self and stroller onto the elevator NO MATTER WHAT!

Dear Snooty Woman and Man from Annapolis,
If you hadn't pointed out this parenting flaw, I guess my child might have suffered permanent damage. I thought it was a great idea for me to use Logan's monkey backpack while we were walking down the narrow, crowded sidewalks of your quaint little city. My two year old prefers to walk, but REALLY prefers to run when given the chance. Seeing that we were on the Chesapeake bay and near a street, I thought the monkey backpack with tail-handle was entirely appropriate. I obviously missed a memo, and sweetly you informed me of my folly with a loudly uttered statement to your walking-buddy "would YOU ever put YOUR child on a LEASH?" To which your friend uttered an icy "no." I clearly committed a parenting faux-pas and am SO glad it has been correctly disdained. How could I have ever seen this danger-prevention measure as socially acceptable? I also adore the condescending tone-of-voice/eye which I receive from some of your city's occupants when their eyes land on my pregnant belly, then my young face, then down to my two year old. You were right, and I was wrong, what would I do without your help?

*******These instances stand out in stark relief, I have encountered an equal amount of nice to mildly-tolerant people here in my specific location of the East Coast. I had to post these three incidences which were and are clearly, out of the ordinary.