Attention, parents: You’d better not take your children shopping this summer. Or, if you’re in Indiana, allow them to watch TV. The first activity is too dangerous, the second too disturbing.
Let’s take television viewing first.
It’s usually one of mankind’s most passive activities, but this summer it can make a viewer’s hair stand on end. That’s because the state of Indiana is trying to frighten parents into taking care of their children. It sponsored several Public Service Announcements that are realistic and really chilling. One features a child (apparently) drowning in a bathtub, another a child (apparently) drowning in a backyard pool.
Some 30 people have already complained to the ad agency that made the PSAs. Small wonder, as the ads are indeed disturbing.
The PSAs were funded by The Kids First Trust Fund, which gets its money from the sale of “Kids First” license plates in the state. It’s supposed to spend its revenues “for projects addressing prevention of child abuse and neglect.” But the drivers who’ve purchased these plates ought to ask whether their money is being well spent.
Our federal government’s Consumer Product Safety Commission says 250 children under the age of five drown in pools each year. That’s five per state. Assuming Indiana is close to the average, pool drownings aren’t the biggest threat to children in the Hoosier state.
In fact, going to the supermarket might be more dangerous. Kicking off its own scare campaign, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently announced that more than 24,000 children suffered shopping cart injuries last year. Dr. Gary Smith warned parents that, “Children have died from falls from shopping carts. We also know that many of these children are severely injured. They have severe fractures and can have lifelong disabilities.”
And in case you were wondering, the AAP wants new state and federal laws that would set minimum safety standards for shopping carts, even though surveys show that only about one in seven parents even bother to use the safety straps already provided – maybe because they’re so often broken.
Enough. It’s time to end all the scare techniques. Especially those far out of proportion to the threat they’re attempting to protect us from.
If Indiana wants to make an ad about a real problem, it ought to focus on childhood obesity. Unlike drownings, obesity is a common and steadily growing problem nationwide. Continued... |