Being a parent is really difficult as far as jobs go, and it doesn’t get much easier for quite awhile — I imagine that my mother would argue that she is still on the job nearly thirty-five years later. There is so much advice to be given to children, much of which has to be repeated over and over again until it sinks in and has some meaning to the child. Make sure to put on sunscreen when you lay out in the sun, for example. Even the best sunscreen is not a perfect protection against the sun and you will eventually get a sunburn. Oh, and then there is the piece of advice that most parents never think that they will have to give their children but apparently is sometimes quite necessary — don’t sunbathe in the middle of the road or you may just get struck by a vehicle.
The rather sad story is that two teenage girls were laying in the middle of the road in Beaver County, Pennsylvania when they fell asleep. A little while later, their older cousin was driving down the very road and made a very poor turn, not seeing them sleeping in the middle of the road. I am on the one hand quite relieved that both of the girls are in fair condition after the accident but at the same time I am quite confused as to how the two girls ended up sunbathing in the middle of the road to begin with.
Where did they get the idea that this would be a good place to lay and get sun? Was every single field in Beaver County so inaccessible that they turned to the road? More to the point, I would like know how it was possible that each of the girls were okay with the idea of going to the road and that neither of them thought that perhaps it would be a bad idea to lay somewhere deadly multi-thousand pound metal monsters regularly stomped through, pushing past everything in their way?
I really feel for the families of these two girls, let that be clear. It makes me sad that they were put in the way of harm but it makes me sadder that they were the ones that put themselves in that path while in the pursuit of a good tan. I can only hope that they will take from this a good lesson on being careful in life and that they will in the future pick more appropriate places to pick up some vitamin D.
Your article reminds me of something I wrote in 2008: “Note to Parents: Hot Things Burn Your Children!”
http://urbansemiotic.com/2008/07/22/note-to-parents-hot-things-burn-your-children/
I see in the comment stream there that I was reminded of something I wrote in 2007: “Don’t Drink Bleach”
http://goinside.com/2007/03/15/dont-drink-bleach/
Parents don’t seem to want to take responsibility for their children, alas — and when something bad happens, watch out! Someone else must be to blame!
Hmmmm…I read this and heard a ghostly voice saying, “Oh, Darwiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin!”
I hear you, Jonolan! Dim behavior seems to lead to death!