So last night the big boys had their belt ceremony for Tiny Tigers karate. It was a pot luck party. I, in my lack of time to cook or bake, decided to take pizza. Don't judge! It was tons of homemade delicious food, none of which the kids ate. There were several pizzas there-ALL gone before my family made it through the buffet line, which means they ate dessert and I had to stop for another pizza on the way home from the dinner party.
Anyway, I pulled into the Little Ceasars across the street from my neighbor hood for a couple of $5 pies. As I was getting back into the car and car had pulled into the spot next to me. So naturally you glance in the window. The back seat had 3 small girls, and by small I'm gonna guess they were each younger than my 3 (so probably between the ages of 1 and 4). And not a SINGLE car seat in there. And the 2 girls on each end didn't even have their seat belts on. I couldn't tell about the smallest in the middle, she could have had the lap belt across? The sad part is, I see this sort of thing ALL the time. Or older kids (out of car seat age) not buckled, or 5-8 year olds not in boosters, or kids in the front seat. I take this personally. I can't help it. I am aware of all the car seat laws and think it's one of the most important things we could do to protect our babies. Plus, what if I, the best driver ever, had an off day and hit your car with an unprotected child. That would kill me.
So anyway, my first bad thought was, mamma could afford and iPhone and an ear piece, why not a car seat. My second thought was to give her mine. I lived across the street and have extras, plus could afford a new one if I needed to . I debated saying something. But an offended mom can be a pit bull. And a pissed off black mamma could be a could be a big fat nasty grizzly bear. I was already in mommy time out for the drive, meaning I has asked for complete silence to get my attitude back in check thanks to my little wild nuggets who had annoyed me to no end just moments earlier.
So how to handle things like this? Part of you wants to call the cops. But I am a big believer in karma. And I would hate for my turtle to fall off his bike the one time he didn't put his helmet on. Or for me to get a ticket for rolling that stop sign in the neighborhood like every-single-other person just because I tried to do a good deed.
I thought about those kids all night long. Almost to the point of tears. How could a parent put their child in that kind of danger?
3 comments:
I see this all the time as well and it breaks my heart! I totally get what you're saying. There are times I just want to tap the parent on the shoulder and say - here, take my carseats. PLEASE. It's just so sad that people prioritize iPhones or nicer cars rather than buying their children the things that keep them safe.
I saw a little girl who was probably 2 riding in the middle of her grandfather (I assume) and her mother. No carseat at all and her grandfather was holding a cigarette directly in her face. Made me sick. Absolutely sick.
It's irresponsible! To think that some people like that are lucky enough to get the privelige to be parents when others are not. I don't get it
I hate that feeling - not knowing what to do. I feel the same way about carseats and kids. I see so many people taking their kids out of them too soon ... we are the car seat nazi's at our house.
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