Reading a heartbreaking thread on a local #parenting page about how to teach #children to be afraid of streets, because streets are not #safe.
We do not have to accept--and force our #kids to accept--that #streets are not safe. This is problem created entirely by a mentality that driving is the most sacred use of public space.
IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. We created this problem; it's up to us--not our children--to fix it.
We put our children on leashes because the grown-ups want to run amok.
The best way for our children to avoid getting run over is for the rest of us to stop being so gd selfish.
Stop buying huge vehicles.
Stop looking at your phone.
Stop driving like nothing and no one else matters.
Start demanding that your legislators re-allocate the literal trillions of dollars we spend every year to make faster roads for cars into making safer streets for everyone.
It's not complicated.
@DrTCombs The alternative is to actually change our behavior even a tiny bit. Apparently that's just too much to ask for, so the kids gotta learn to adapt.
@wordshaper yep. it's disgusting.
@wordshaper @DrTCombs I live in #Sheffield #UK. A local newspaper recently covered changes being made to a busy junction to reduce accidents. The comments from #petrolhead drivers about how this issue would be solved if children were taught better #roadsafety beggared belief. Some even proposed increasing the #speedlimit! No acknowledgement of the role drivers/cars play. Shocking that this is the value some #drivers place on human life. They should be ashamed of themselves.
The whole thread could be titled "How to teach your babies to make up for the shortcomings of grownups"
And while I 100% get parents' fears--I live in near constant fear that my own kid is going to get smacked--what I do not get is the lack of rage about the situation.
Streets don't have to be dangerous. We have chosen to tolerate dangerous streets, and to expect our kids to live in fear of them.