re: Parents: Please do your jobs

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"We'll See" or "Go ask your father/mother" are classic rebuttals to such requests.

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While true, neither of these really address the underlying issue I described in my post.

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I don't really see the underlying issue by an innocent question like that.

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As I said in my original comment, I never agreed with it as a child, but I did note that I got in trouble for it just like whoever I was responding to. And, my parents always just said it was impolite to ask in front of them.

Went to DC last year. We saw a girl, about 12 or so, walking around with little sister on one of those kid leash things. Toddler would not move at one point and the older girl yanks her down and just walks on dragging the little one along the ground. One of the funniest things I have ever seen. The dad was pissed when he saw it. He was also pissed when he saw my kids and I laughing out loud at them.
Fun trip.

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My father would have told me to put my feet down as soon as the train began to fill up.

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I let my wife sit down and mean mug the shitty parents.

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I also only asked my parents one time in front of someone else if that person could come over. It was made very clear VERBALLY that I was not to do that again. I understood the first time.

I feel ya. We were there for a week as well and I can promise you this: you didn't see my boys;)

My kids may be somewhat nerdy, big boys who love being Boy Scouts but they understand courtesy/respect/reverence/etc

The guard change at the Tomb was a sobering (and awesome) sight for them.

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in public

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And here is the issue. I never permitted my children to challenge my authority in public. If they began to misbehave or act out I would look them in the eye and ask them if we needed to go somewhere private. They knew exactly what I meant. Once I got the behavior that was appropriate for the situation, then I would ask them what they wanted. Worked like a charm. I taught them how to act like an adult and expected them to act like an adult. And guess what? They did.

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If you have the means to afford it, DC can be an awesome place to live

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This. I do and think it's great.

If you stick around the Smithsonian then yes, you'll run into lots of ill-behaved tourists with children. Same thing if you ride Metro during the day when locals are working.