Another Symptom Of Our Pass-The-Buck Culture?
November 15, 2008 / 10:27 am • By Dr. Melissa ClouthierGo watch this video and then come on back.
I’m going to assume you watched it. In our community, there are many ponds mostly for flood control and none of them have fences. We also have a gazillion kids running around–some even fish without adult supervision.
How much protection should the government have to provide and how much is the responsibility of the individual? Personally, I think it’s the parent’s responsibility to hold on to their kids in those dangerous situations.
What do you think?
6 Responses to “Another Symptom Of Our Pass-The-Buck Culture?”
November 15 2008 / 12:05 pm
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There seems to be a phenomenom happening with the kids in our area. The safer we make their environment, the more entitled they act. I have witnessed and heard about many instances of kids walking down the middle of the street refusing to get out of the way of cars, or just walking into the road without looking and sauntering slowly across.
On the other hand, in the video there was a barrier of sorts, but it obviously wasn’t adequate. If the parks are going to build a barrier, they should do it right. Home owners are required to follow certain codes when building deck railings; parks should, too.
November 15 2008 / 6:39 pm
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Parents should be responsible for their kids. What about a guardrail on a mountain? That is easy to crawl over, under, or trip on… The point is, there were plenty of adults there to protect the kids, but they were too busy taking photos. Now they want to raise awareness for whatever… They should extract their heads from their hindquarters and parent.
Don’t even get me started on the three CBS queens talking about how refreshing it was that the parents did not plan to litigate…
November 15 2008 / 7:17 pm
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“To minimize suffering and to maximize security were natural and proper ends of society and Caesar. But then they became the only ends, somehow, and the only basis of law — a perversion. Inevitably, then, in seeking only them, we found only their opposites: maximum suffering and minimum security.”
–Walter Miller, “A Canticle for Leibowitz”
November 15 2008 / 11:54 pm
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The parents should be aware that posing their kids on the edge of a cliff might not be the safest thing to do. There was a saying, “You can’t make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious.” The same thing goes for a barrier. If they put up a more protective barrier, the next set of parents will park the kids on top because the barrier will block the view.
You go to the Grand Canyon and there are signs all over the place warning people not to get too close to the edge. You go to Yellowstone and there are signs all over the place warning people not to get too close to the hot springs, the wild animals, and so forth.
People don’t want to think and don’t want to take responsibility for themselves and their children.
November 17 2008 / 10:23 am
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The parents are responsible for their children. Parents approaching this railing should realize that it was of idiotic design, and take care to protect their children from the obvious hazard.
If you are going to put up a rail, the top rail should be at 36″ or so, and the mid rail should be at 18″ or so, off the ground. Putting a toe rail in with no mid rail just provides a tripping hazard for children, as happened here.
This cliff would have been safer with no rail at all, which is how I like my cliffs, anyway…
November 17 2008 / 3:53 pm
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Just went to Yosemite where the trails up to all the falls have no fences or any such guards. Who is responsible to keep my children away from the edges and over near the safe side? ME!
While certain safeguards should be installed on public lands, ultimately it is the responsibility of the PARENT to maintain the safety of their children.
Why would ANYONE give such a responsibility over to what is essentially a stranger. The Government cannot deal with their own things, why would anyone think they should be responsible for dealing with their children’s safety?