Commuting with kids with requires a lot of patience. I can admit I hated the phrase "kids should be seen but not heard" growing up, but the youths of our contemporary society demand to be seen, herd, felt and smelt. Almost every sensible person meets a kid-crowed bus or train with an immediate "oh shit" thought. Not to say all kids that I come across in transit are rotten, I'm pretty sure a good75% of them are well mannered. It's that 25% that makes this article worth writing, we have all seen bebe's kids. 1 kid is fine. 2 -3kids (with supervision) is ok. However unsupervised kids in groups will get into mischief faster than you can think to yourself "wow where are these kids parents".
Kids tend to get really loud really fast they are unconcerned, and not to mention discombobulated. Young kids are always under the impression that riding the train is a sight seeing fun-tastic event, they stare, point and sit on the seats backwards and usually fall on some random stranger all to entertain themselves, to which the parent may or may not apologize to you for. 
Teens and pre teens stand in groups and are willing to participate in any activity that may catch your attention or rub adults the wrong way. Loud, Lusty sexual conversations, peer bashing to spontaneous sing-along of the latest tunes. But whatever these young bloods decide to do older folks are greatly annoyed.
I've seen this one kid getting scolded by his mom retaliate by kicking another random unsuspecting commuter, and the guy just stood there looking sad, until someone brought it to his mothers attention. And what do you when a child strikes you? Me? I just need to get away from the situation ASAP, if I know one thing, it's that parents get very defensive about children even if the child is more rotten than a weeks old apple stuck in the bottom of a trash can.
As usual stay alert and do not be afraid to keep it moving if you observe suspicious/rotten behavior.
Commutable safety tip: if you need to bring oversized objects on the train (eg. A lazy boy, or a cello) just don't. No one likes or wants to be "that guy".
SsPowell.
