Seat belts to helmets, fast food to cigarettes, who decides what’s safe for me. I’m 31 years old and I think I’ve reached a point in my life in where I know what is good for me and what isn’t. I don’t wear a seat-belt or helmet and it’s my choice for the helmet but I’m told I have to buckle up. Why? Who thinks they’re still my parent at 31? Same thing with fast food and smoking. I know smoking kills so does fifty other things I do during the day. If I wanted to live a perfectly safe life I would never have left my parents house. I should just stay in bed all day. Would that still guarantee my safe day? Life is full of choices for me to make nobody else. So I’m going to grab a smoke, jump on my bike and go eat some grease from Mickey D’s.
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Us Girls..Our Views 
I agree. It totally bugs me that I will have to deal with so many “safety laws” affecting my kids, when I never did any of those things and I honestly think I’m better for that.
I don’t want to bubble-wrap my kids. I don’t want to throw them into the fire either, but most of the time, it’s better to experience the natural results of your actions than to be shielded artificially. I let my kids play outside and fall and skin their knees and even bang their heads. As a result, they are developing steadiness, forethought, and various other skills that will keep them a lot safer as they grow. I don’t want them to have to wear a helmet when they begin to ride a bike or skate. I know lots of parents feel differently, but I feel it should be the parent’s choice. Parents should be educated on the pros and cons, but helmet laws and such really rub me the wrong way. Same thing for a lot of stuff. I just feel I am a better person all around because I took age-appropriate risks and learned from my mistakes.
As an adult, I grumble about some of the laws, but most of them don’t affect me directly. I do believe I should follow an actual “law” but I will do everything I can to get around it legally if it cramps my style.
I am glad that they make helments, and all the safety things for children, I am all about the safety in ones live. My children so not leave the house without a seat belt or a car seat, i flip out when the situation occurs, were my family says that we are only going so far, well that so far can be deadly. Helments are a must when they ride there fourwheelers, they do not ride unless they have it. Safety Safety Safety!!!! You have to raise your children to wear all the devices they make for things.
I feel some things go to far. When I brought both my boys home from the hospital, I didn’t have car seats. Seat belts weren’t even in cars in my memory bank. I do wear them and wish you would too but I can’t “make you.” I also wish you’d wear a helmet but there again, I can’t tell you what to do. There are some things that I think are silly though. I feel when I’m wearing a helmet on the 4-wheeler that it affects how well I can see. I can’t turn my head right and I don’t wear one unless it’s really cold out. I feel that I can’t see as well or turn my head properly wearing one.
I also find that I’m getting sick of feeling like a criminal for smoking. If they are so bad then lets stop making them. Then nobody could do it. I’m fine not smoking in restaurants but bars?? Also, people who “used” to smoke treat me the worst. Like they are suddenly pure.
BUT….there are safety issues that have changed with time. Cars go faster, they are smaller and the roads have changed. I don’t think the seat belt law is a bad law. I’m just used to them now. I started wearing them when they became a law because I didn’t want my kids to question why I didn’t wear one and they had to. Kids look to the adult in their lives and there is a point that you lead by example.
Somethings are ridiculous.. But seatbelts can save lives.. Its the only thing that saved my friends life when his truck was smashed to pieces. They made seat belts mandatory for a reason.. Its much easier to force people to buckle up than to clean their bodies up off the highway.
I have to agree with TiredMom. I do think some laws are ridiculous, but seatbelts CAN save your life along with helmets, but I think that helmets can be a personal choice for ADULTS. Children should be wearing helmets when riding 4 wheelers or motorcycles or any other thing motorized. I don’t think they need them for bike riding, but a helmet and pads would make the fall not so painful. That said, I never wore any protective gear and if my children ever decide to learn to ride bike they probably won’t either.
I agree Jason. I think most laws should be left to you as an adult to decide whether or not you wanted to follow them. Of course I’m thinking of the general laws you mentioned like seatbelts, helmets etc. I’m NOT thinking of laws that directly could endanger the welfare of others like drunk driving, speeding etc. We also can’t have a legal free for all where we all just pick and choose the ones we like.
With that said though, I do think as a parent you have to look one step beyond yourself to your own kids. Not only are you a role model, but you’re also their caregiver. If you are killed it isn’t about YOU, it’s about THEM… I lost a dear friend last year who was only 28 who was speeding on his way home from work on a motorcycle, not wearing a helmet. He left behind two beautiful little girls, the youngest whom may never remember him.
I’m not a safety fanatic either. In fact today I had to lecture my daughter on why it was ok to walk barefoot on the lawn (they’re taught at daycare to always wear shoes outside). But I guess I just end up putting it in the same category as getting a job, mortgage of any of those other things I do for my family. Most of the time I don’t do it for me…most of the time I could care less, but it’s THEM that I think about and that’s what scares the crap out of me and makes me rethink things just long enough to reconsider.
I agree with sue. When it comes to kids, helmets should be worn on all motorized vehicles. Bailey does not wear one when he is riding his pedal bike. But dirt bike, snowmobile and the 4wheelers are a different story. He always wears his seatbelt. Infact you can’t put the car in drive until he has his belt on. He will get mad!! As for me, I always wear my seatbelt but i don’t wear a helmet on the bike. Explain that? I can’t. I should I just don’t like too. Now Jennifer you have me thinking. You’re right if I’m killed it’s not about me it becomes about my little boy who would be without a mom. Wow. I think I will put my helmet on next time I get on the back of my husbands bike. Thank you for putting that into perspective.
To clarify, I think it’s the law in my city that kids aren’t allowed to ride pedal bikes without a helmet. Not even the wee training wheel bikes on the sidewalk. It seems to me that the helmets would distort the child’s sense of what’s going on, as well as give them a false sense of security. Frankly, I also think they give parents a false sense of security. The fact is, riding a bike or doing 1000 other things that kids do every day is potentially dangerous, with or without a helmet. Kids need to grow to respect that so they are less likely to do stupid things. I still remember bike accidents that I had when I was 6 (due to an unfit second-hand bike), and a bad fall I took on my 4th birthday. Yeah, I was hurt and scared, but I got a little smarter each time. I did some daring things growing up but was practically unscathed because I had a pretty good sense of what worked and what didn’t.
I similarly feel disappointed that my kids will not have the opportunity to, e.g., stay home alone or babysit when they are pre-teens, have a paper route, ride their bikes to school, or even take pride in doing their own homework, if the kiddie law fanatics have their way. Kids mature at different rates, and if they are ready, they ought to have the chance to spread their wings, and if they aren’t, they still ought to have a chance to learn from their mistakes up to a point. Parents should have the right to make these decisions for their kids, because they are the only ones who really know what the kids are capable of.
That said, I would agree that helmets should be required for kids on motorized vehicles and such, or participating in extreme sports (which I hope my kids never want to do!). But not to protect against every foreseeable mistake a child might make.
Nicole, good thinking, helemts are a most, adults, kids etc… They will most likely save your life. Love ya girl.
Sometimes I’m glad I live in the middle of nowhere. I do use seatbelts and my son (almost 4) was in a car seat, now in a booster car seat but that’s about it. I use a 4 wheeler every day to check cattle, horses and fences but don’t wear a helmet. I don’t travel fast but there’s no way I could count cattle with a helmet on. For a motorcycle, do what you want to I guess but I don’t know why it has to be a law. Let us adults make our own choices. I’m with Jason that if I wanted to live in a little bubble, I’d still live at home.
My son does not wear a helmet when playing on his bike nor does he wear one playing on his play structure that is much higher and in my opinion, more dangerous than a bike. He could be hurt in the house, in the barn or in bed for heaven’s sake. Being/getting scrapes and bruises is a part of life. We need to know what to do in certain situations as a part of learning. My brother fell out of bed when he was 10 and broke his arm and he fell off his bike and out of tree’s and never got hurt so who’s to judge what law should be in place and for what things???????
Well, we have no kids yet, but I know that I will change a lot of my habits- I already have- because of my kids. I will start wearing my seatbelt, a helmet, and Eric will stop smoking. We will because one- it could help us live longer to be around for each other and our kids, and because secondly, I know from experience that kids mimic their parents even when they become adults. Haven’t you guys noticed that you do things your parents did? Even though you said you never would? If we respect our parents, and sometimes when we don’t, we do follow their lead. I was thinking the other day about how teenagers rebel and I went against all the rules my mom had, but now that I’m out of that stage I follow them and believe in them.
I have worked in an emergency room, and in many hospitals, so I know the advantage little safety belts and helmets can have to your life….but it is an adults choice if they want to risk possibly being paralyzed or injured for life or even worse, dead at a young age.