It seems as though in France they have less strict views on basic safety concepts compared to the US. Someone here told me that the French try to give off the impression of caring about safety while still managing to do the bare minimum to require it or ensure it.
Lets take car sets for example; it was only a short time ago that car seats became mandatory in France. OK, kinda odd but the more pressing issue is that the car seats that they now deem to be appropriate to keep their infants safe in case of an accident have 1 little buckle with 2 thin straps. No chest buckle at all, so if an infant in a French car seat were to be in an accident there is a good chance that even if this kid was snapped into the car seat correctly, he or she would come flying out through the straps because nothing is keeping them secure up top. All of the French people who we've encountered so far must think that Lance and I are freak parents as we've dragged our 5 point harness car seats, on the plane, on the train and we actually put our 3 year old in one. This leads me to my next point...
Motorcycles; they seem to be quite relaxed about the use of helmets or any type of safety gear here. The second day we were here we met one of our neighbors "Guy" with 2 of his kids on his Hemingwayesque motorcycle. Nobody had on helmets - not him, not his 13 year old daughter or his 18 month old son whom she was holding. There was some talk initially of car pooling with these neighbors back and forth to school with the kids. Not sure where Ellie's car seat would fit on the back of his motorcycle????
Pool standards - they are not really into safety here. Fences, pool monitors...who needs them? Actually, to their credit, if you rent a property with a pool associated with it, you do have to have a fence but if you own the pool you are free and clear to let your kids or anyone else's kids fall right in.
Shopping carts are quite possibly the funniest to me. Immediately upon getting your cart and entering the Supermarché you see signs warning you about how dangerous it is to put your kid in the basket. OK, that I agree with. Additionally, they have right and wrong signs about how to put your kid in the front basket of the cart properly. OK, still with ya. However, this is when things start to fall apart. After you follow the instructions on how to put your kid in the front basket you have no way to clip them in with a belt or any other safety device to keep them from crawling or falling out. There are hooks and notches where straps might go but actual straps...Nada. It has caused me to bring a belt with me to strap Cole in when we shop - again people must think I am NUTSO.
Also, it seems like a lot of people subscribe to the "it's noon somewhere" theory. It was 10:00am the other day when Lance and I went to go get our bank accounts and we walked past a café and there were some people having coffee but at least 5 normal looking people were having a beer!
And my favorite of all...I was leaving Ellie's school one of the many times I dropped her off today and I saw a woman, not just any woman, A SCHOOL EMPLOYEE, smoking a cigarette about 15 feet from the main door of Ellie's school, she was waiting to lock the gate behind me (for the safety of keeping all the kids in). How ironic.
2 comments:
What's wrong with drinking a beer at 10am??
Apparently nothing!
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