No child left behind

A 4-year-old boy was left alone at a train station in Lund, Sweden. His family were flying to Iraq from Copenhagen, but when they got on the train, he somehow fell behind and was left on the platform.

When the parents turned to the ticked-collector and pleaded for the operators to open the train doors, they refused. "The doors will not open until the next stop," the conductor said.

"We cannot see that we did anything wrong," a train company spokeswoman told Aftonbladet. "We were following protocol."

The driver of the train said in a statement through the company that he would have "obviously" stopped the train if he knew a little boy had been left behind," but this was not communicated to him.

A 5-year-old boy in New York City somehow got on the wrong school bus the other day. The first-grader - who was supposed to be walked next-door to an after-school program - told his mother he had gotten on the bus because a school aide told him to. He got off 2 miles from home - all alone - until another parent saw him and brought him back to school.

"Our driver tells us protocol was followed," a bus company spokeswoman said. "No child was left alone."

The driver has been suspended without pay; Education officials would not say if the school aide was disciplined. An Education Department spokeswoman said the agency launched an investigation after the school notified it of the incident. Two DOE representatives even went to the school the next day to monitor dismissal.

In Sweden, the family is claiming discrimination. The cold reception they got from the train staff was due to the family's foreign descent, the father said. The case is under investigation by the Ombudsman for Ethnic Discrimination.

What's wrong with today's parents?

Albie and I went to the 10:45 p.m. showing of "Prince Caspian" after my concert last night.

We walked in just in time for the previews. As we sat down, a young mother comes in with a little boy in her arms. I didn't see her at first., but Albie did.

"Who brings their 6-year-old to a movie this late?" Albie asked, and I turned around to look at the two of them walking up the stairs to some seats two rows behind us.

"He's not 6," I replied, turning back to Albie. "He looks more like 4."

The mother and son (we assume) placed themselves next to a little girl.

"Now, she looks more like 6," I said.

The first preview started showing and the mother got up and walked out the door. The boy was screaming "Moooooooooom!" but she just kept going. She got back 6 or 7 minutes later, just as the movie was about to start.

I had just started thinking she was going to leave the kids there by themselves while she went to see a "grown-up" film.