“Do you give up your seat for pregnant women on the metro?”

Photo by PoPville flickr user random lady

I don’t understand how the universe works but for some reason, reader questions tend to arrive in themes. Yesterday’s touched on a controversial post delivery topic but I think today’s should be more straightforward. A reader wonders:

“I’m 36 weeks (and very visibly) pregnant, but have only had a seat offered to me once. I take the metro everyday and luckily have a short commute, so it’s not that big of a problem, but I imagine other women might feel differently. Not sure if people simply don’t notice, or don’t want to notice in fear of offending her, or don’t think it’s necessary to offer up their seat.”

Or maybe not straightforward at all – my wife also mentioned she was almost never given a seat on metro when in the late stages of pregnancy. Is this a courtesy that no longer applies today? I remember my grandma laying in to me when I must’ve been like 8 years old for not getting up for a pregnant woman. Are those days long gone or are we just too focused on our phones to notice someone could use a seat more than us? Sometimes I think we’d be in a better place if a few of our grandparents did some public service announcements…