Parents who really shouldn't be - A Rant

About a month ago, I was on the train, when a guy and his son got on. The kid was something like 4 years old - not particularly old, or... sentient. Basically, not old enough to know - all blame for the following story is laid at the feet of the useless father involved.

The kid begins running amok on the train. The train wasn't particularly full, but I was sitting on the steps that lead up into the carriage proper, to allow people who need the neutral seats more to be able to use them. People such as parents who are taking care of their kids, or old people, or whoever.

The child starts banging on the glass door of the train. Running in circles. Banging on the thick glass separating the edge of the long bench from the area where people who couldn't get a seat stand (and hold onto the bars so they don't fall - something which is important when we take into account the fact that these are CityRail trains...).

This, I can deal with. Whatever. I had my headphones on, and wasn't hearing the child anyway. What annoys me though, is that his father just sat there, watching him. But whatever, its not my place to do his job for him - he's the parent right?

But then it got worse.

The child started pressing the emergency button. This is a big red button (that everyone wants to press, but its not a good idea to) which connects each carriage to the driver. Pressing the button gives the driver a warning, and connects him to a speaker on the carriage the alert came from, so that he can find out what the problem is. It's designed to be used in emergencies. For example, if someone gets deathly ill on the train, like has a heart attack or something.

This kid was pressing the button repeatedly. His father continued to watch and simply do nothing. This is the point where I take off my headphones, since I knew this wasn't going to end well - and since I was the closest one to the speaker (and noone else seemed to have noticed this) it was going to end up my mess... because some dude can't be bothered parenting his child. Then the driver answered.

"Is there a problem are are you just mucking around?"

I reply, telling him (quite loudly) that there was a child in the carriage running around, and he was the one who pushed the button. No, there wasn't a problem. No, he wasn't my child. His parent is sitting on the bench, watching and listening during this entire exchange. When he noticed that both I and the driver were getting annoyed at this, he eventually calls the kid over to him.

You'd think that would be the end of it wouldn't you?

Of course not! The kid starts running around like a headless chicken again, banging on things and generally being obnoxious. Again, doing kid things. It doesn't really surprise me. But then, again, the child returns to the big red button, while the father watched him, still not moving from his seat. At this point, the kid had been rampaging for about 30 minutes worth of travel, and the guy had not moved from his seat once.

The kid tries to push the button again. This time, I intervene by grabbing the kids hand. Well, we can't have him messing with the emergency button can we? When the father sees this, he calls the kid back over again, this time holding him for the rest of the trip, and sending me an angry glare.

I can't remember what he looked like, but it was probably like this

What is wrong with people? Why is it that he can't be bothered to take care of, or God forbid discipline his own kid?

Can I chlorinate the gene pool now?