Comments on: The Stroller Panic That Wasn’t http://www.parentswithattitude.com/parentsforum/the-stroller-panic-that-wasnt/ For parents who can think for themselves Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:09:56 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Nancy McDermott http://www.parentswithattitude.com/parentsforum/the-stroller-panic-that-wasnt/#comment-297 Nancy McDermott Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:58:37 +0000 http://www.parentswithattitude.com/parentsforum/?p=188#comment-297 I don't think American parents are necessarily less apt to take a common sense approach to these things but I do think there's a strand of thought - which people usually understand as coming from the litigious climate that takes precaution to an extreme. For instance the building codes have changed where I am to mandate that horizontal wire used for decking must be spaced four inches or less between them. Apparently this is to prevent children being decapitated. Spacing the wires this way rather defeats the purpose of not obstructing the view. But more to the point... has a child ever been decapitated by decking wire? Maybe some where, but really, what are the chances. it's as if there are people with morbid imaginations sitting around thinking about what freak accidents might occur. There are two problems with this - apart from the fact that its insane. The first is that it breeds a climate in which morbid imaginations about what MIGHT happen are rewarded as being "responsible" and the second is that it assumes that we are too incompetent to negotiate the things that really could happen and more often than not, enshrines it in law. I do think there are panics that are so stupid that they stretch credulity and the Maclaren panic is one of them - but as long as we have this climate in which parents don't just come out and say these things are stupid the more incompetent we'll be perceived to be. I don’t think American parents are necessarily less apt to take a common sense approach to these things but I do think there’s a strand of thought – which people usually understand as coming from the litigious climate that takes precaution to an extreme. For instance the building codes have changed where I am to mandate that horizontal wire used for decking must be spaced four inches or less between them. Apparently this is to prevent children being decapitated. Spacing the wires this way rather defeats the purpose of not obstructing the view. But more to the point… has a child ever been decapitated by decking wire? Maybe some where, but really, what are the chances. it’s as if there are people with morbid imaginations sitting around thinking about what freak accidents might occur. There are two problems with this – apart from the fact that its insane. The first is that it breeds a climate in which morbid imaginations about what MIGHT happen are rewarded as being “responsible” and the second is that it assumes that we are too incompetent to negotiate the things that really could happen and more often than not, enshrines it in law.

I do think there are panics that are so stupid that they stretch credulity and the Maclaren panic is one of them – but as long as we have this climate in which parents don’t just come out and say these things are stupid the more incompetent we’ll be perceived to be.

]]> By: Jennifer Howze http://www.parentswithattitude.com/parentsforum/the-stroller-panic-that-wasnt/#comment-165 Jennifer Howze Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:34:20 +0000 http://www.parentswithattitude.com/parentsforum/?p=188#comment-165 Great post. Everyone over here in the UK mummy blogging community seemed to be scratching their heads about this one too. I blogged about it on Alpha Mummy (http://timesonline.typepad.com/alphamummy/2009/11/maclaren-clarifies-its-pushchair-position-hinge-covers-for-all.html) and the company ended up offering the hinge covers for UK parents, but seems like a common sense thing to me. Don't let little fingers near the moving parts of your stroller/pushchair while you're folding or unfolding it. Great post. Everyone over here in the UK mummy blogging community seemed to be scratching their heads about this one too. I blogged about it on Alpha Mummy (http://timesonline.typepad.com/alphamummy/2009/11/maclaren-clarifies-its-pushchair-position-hinge-covers-for-all.html) and the company ended up offering the hinge covers for UK parents, but seems like a common sense thing to me. Don’t let little fingers near the moving parts of your stroller/pushchair while you’re folding or unfolding it.

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