Ferry Boat Mayhem

I grew up in Novato. Clearly I remember what it was like to be a teenager and want to have fun with my friends. I am also a parent now of a 4-year-old and 21-year-old. I have taken the ferry from Larkspur to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in San Francisco for the last five years. I have never felt my safety or the safety of my children were at risk...until this year.

The ferry ride to the parade is not the enjoyable experience that it once was. I am a pretty tolerant person. When the Marin teens show up in full force to ride the ferry in years past, it never really bothered me. They are usually loud and there is some fair amount of undercover drinking that goes on. So be it...they aren't my kids. However, this year really took the cake. The amount of kids riding the ferry was obscene this year. The girls all board the boat in next to nothing as far as clothing is concerned. Some were even changing in the bathrooms because they would never had gotten away with wearing what they did on the boat.

Again...this happens every year so this was not surprising. What was surprising was the amount of teens who were already intoxicated and still allowed to come on the ferry. Several teens were openly drinking beer and hard liquor before it was confiscated. There were teens smoking pot on the bottom level of the ferry as well. I get it...I was young once too. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but when the teens became disrespectful to others on the ferry (including children), that's where I drew the line.

I was waiting for the restroom when a mom was exiting with her daughter in a stroller. A few of the girls made comments to the mom and a confrontation began. The mom was clearly ticked off and rightly so. I made my way to the restroom again, with a 3-year-old on one hand and a 4-year-old on the other. A couple of girls who had clearly been drinking tried to cut in front of us more than once to get into the bathroom. Now I don't know about any other parents, but when I have two small kids who still struggle to "hold it" while getting to the bathroom, I want to get in there as quick as possible. I confronted these "young ladies" and I use that term loosely because I was really fed up at that point.

The kicker was what happened when I tried to return to my seat with the kids after leaving the restroom. The ferry was docking and there were many teens blocking the entryways to additional seating areas on the ferry. They were all congregating to exit the boat as quickly as possible. I started to make my way through the crowd and back to my seat with two small children in tow. In retrospect, I should have waited until the kids got off before returning to my husband and friends. Hindsight is 20/20. What happened though completely blew my mind. The girls starting saying things to me such as "I wouldn't try to do that if I were you". I was politely saying "Excuse me" and "Please let us through".

Finally I came up against one teenage boy who turned and stared me down. He looked me right in the eye as I stood there with two small children trapped in this crowd and blocked me...on purpose! I continued to say to him "Can we please get through" and he just stared me down. His eyes were glazed over and I knew he had been drinking. I said to this kid "I have two small children, please let us through" and still...nothing. I was floored. I felt a little panicked at what may happen if this mob of teens just plowed over the kids and separated them from me. Or worse still, one of the children were knocked to the floor and stepped on. I stayed right where I was maintaining my staring contest with this kid when the teens thankfully started going around us. I held on tightly to the children. I remember thinking "this is bull****". My husband, my friends and I were all irritated by the lack of supervision and monitoring of all these teens. By the things I was overhearing, so were many other folks. 

I like Golden Gate Ferry. I think generally they provide a good service but I won't ever take it to get to the parade again. I guess it just bugs me the lack of respect that these teens were exhibiting today. I don't think I'm alone in this. There is a sense of entitlement that a lot of teens feel these days. I just witnessed complete disregard for anyone other than themselves and maybe their friends on that ferry today. I couldn't help but wonder...was I this way as a teen? Were my friends this way? No...I may have been self-centered because most teens go through that phase. I do remember being taught that you need to be kind to people and respectful to some degree. I remember doing some messed up things in my youth. I also remember being considerate to parents and their kids. After today I'm left thinking "how can I teach my kids to be respectful and conscious of others?" How can I encourage my kids to call their friends out when they aren't behaving appropriately? Some things to think about I guess.