No Seatbelts

I was taking Oliver for a walk after work today. There are lots of
little side streets in my neighborhood that we rarely walk, so it was
a nice change. Lots of cool little houses back there.

While walking along one of these side streets, a small car pulled over
and as I passed it I saw there were two women, about in their
thirties, chatting in the front seat. In the back were two small
children, maybe three and five, bouncing all over the place. No seat
belts.

I always feel a bit torn in this type of situation. Do I say something
to them? That their kids should be strapped in? I always wonder about
that as far as what's appropriate.

When Shannon and I were meeting for lunch some time back, we both
noticed a car in the parking lot with two kids inside. The car was not
on and there they sat in the heat while their mother shopped nearby
(Shannon saw her get out of the car and head into a nearby store a few
minutes earlier). We both decided we would give her three more minutes
(about ten total, if that) before we would call the police on her for
leaving her kids in a hot car to fry.

But, that's different. You're not going to have a one-on-one
confrontation with this child-cooking-person like you would if you
were to approach a car and say, "Hey, you might want to get them into
seat belts."  I think the reason I am this way - timid about
confronting strangers - is my fear of how they will react. Will I get
a "You're not their mother!"?   I don't know.

What I do know is I shouldn't give a shit about how they are going to
react to me. Really, whatever they say may likely be out of
embarrassment that they got caught being a jackass of a parent.  When
I leave it be and say nothing, I feel like a bit of a jackass of a
person.