子供：ねえ、疲れたから座りたいよー。
お母さん：電車の中で駄々をこねてはいけません。絵本でも読んでいなさい。
Dada wo koneru
(Densha no naka de)
Kodomo: Nee, tsukareta kara suwaritai yoo.
Okaasan: Densha no naka de dada wo konete wa ikemasen. E-hon de mo yonde inasai.
(On the train)
Child: I'm tired. I want to sit down.
Mother: It's no use acting up like that. Read your picture book or something.
The expression dada wo koneru is used about children who act in a spoiled and selfish manner until they get what they want, who become difficult to handle by making a fuss, often asking things that they know are impossible and refusing to listen to what anyone says.
From where I live, it's a 20-minute journey on the Seibu line into Ikebukuro in central Tokyo, and when I'm coming home on a packed train I prefer to sit down rather than having to stand the whole way. So instead of trying to squeeze onto the first train that comes along, I often wait and let one or two trains go, until I move to the front of the line and am guaranteed a seat on the next train.
Recently, I was sitting down on the train and in front of me was a woman standing with her son, who must have been about 5 years old. Five minutes or so after the train had set out, Otoko no ko go dada wo kone-hajimeta (The boy started to act up).
"I wanna sit down, I'm tired!" he started whining. His mother glanced over in my direction as, she replied. "I can't help it if there aren't any seats, can I?"-as if it went without saying that somebody ought to give up his or her seat for him.
I couldn't believe it Haha-oya no taido wo mite, kodomo wa masu-masu dada wo kone-hajimeta (When the child saw die mother's attitude, he started to make even more of a fuss), and he got really out of hand.
Before long, the person sitting next to me, a middle-aged man, offered them his seat. "Here, go ahead," he said. The woman thanked him and bowed her head, and the boy sat himself down as if this was obviously what he was used to. Dada wo konereba mondai wa kaiketsu suru to omotte iru no deshoo (He must think that all he has to do is throw a tantrum and he'll get his own way).
I'm sure the man sitting next to me must have waited like me to get that seat Why couldn't the young mother see that? If she really wanted to let her son sit down that much, she could have waited for the next train like anyone else.
I really felt this was quite an unpleasant sight Kodomo ni dada wo koneraretara, issho ni e-hon wo yomu toka, ohanashi sum toka shite kodomo no ki wo magirawaseru no ga ii (When children start to play up on you, you should divert their attention by reading a picture book with them or by telling them a story).