Children like books under such circumstances, and you should have several small ones with you. Books about trains and engines will be good fun.
Keep a small toy or two in your purse for odd moments—when you are waiting for your meal in the diner, for example, or when you are waiting for a train. It is a good plan to have a pencil handy and paper for you to draw on to amuse your youngster, or for him to scribble on if he is old enough. Another good thing to have with you is a small cloth picture book that can be rolled up into a compact cylinder.
Fellow travelers.
Most people like children, so don't get too upset if Jimmy talks with his fellow passengers. Many grown-ups find an alert, friendly child a delightful diversion on a long and tiresome trip.
Almost always when you tell the person to whom the child is talking, “Send Jimmy back if he annoys you,” you get the assurance, “He's perfectly all right. I enjoy talking to him.” Accept such statements at their face value. Don't cramp Jimmy's style “in winning friends and influencing people.”
There are times, although they will be rare, when you may need to curb Jimmy's friendliness—when he shows too much interest in an obviously undesirable or uninterested person. Bring him back to your seat to hear a story or to eat an apple and then keep him busy until he forgets about the stranger.
Too much is enough