Is this a three year old?

[Miss Chicken]

First of all - the child in this video was, very fortunately, not seriously hurt. If she had been I wouldn't be posting the video because some people would find it distressing - in fact, some people might still find it distressing.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbX9qKEZUTU[/yt]

An average three year old girl is 33 inches tall, a four year old 37 inches.

The height restrictions for this ride are meant to be 42 inches for an accompanied child and 48 nches for a child on her own. 42 inches is about the height of an average 6 1/2 year old girl, 48 inches an average 9 year old girl.

Now it seems that the mother did at first get on the ride with the child but decided it was too small for an adult so she got off leaving her 3 year old on with his 8 year old brother.

Even if this girl is closed to 4, she is extremely tall.

And what sort of mother would leave two young children alone on such a ride. When my kids were three they only got to ride the dodgem cars or merry-go-rounds accoumpanied by me.

 

[Gov Kodos]

The kids OK. They met minimum height with adults, perhaps the 8 year old was tall enough to let both go without mom (in the operator's mind, anyway). But bad stuff happens, and there's no guarantee that this wouldn't have happened even if mom was on the ride. The carney guy indicated that restrictions will be tightened. Hopefully a new ride, or at least redesigned cars will be introduced to keep this from happening again.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Reports are saying the child tried to get off the ride because she wanted to be with her mother.

My point is that I think this ride is not at all suitable for a three year old. Kids of that age could easily panic even if they have an adult with them. There should have been an age restriction as well as a height restriction. An average 6 year old boy only just makes the height restriction of 42 inches and I would say that that is about the minimum age I would consider taking a child onto this sort of ride.

Anyone with a bit of sense, which this mother seems to lack, would realise that just because the brother was over 48 inches tall that didn't mean that he was old enough to supervise a younger child. If the 8 and 3 year old had been alone when they went through to the ride I am sure that the smaller child would not have been allowed on. She only was allowed through because she was with an adult who irresponsibly left her once she had the child seated.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I can imagine a hot day, the kids are draining the last energies, and mom lets them on the ride just to have a couple of minutes of peace. It's all too easy to condemn parents when something goes wrong. No one can make the right decisions all the time. I'm sure she can beat herself up quite enough on her own.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I have raised 3 children on my own and I certainly took them to regattas and Royal Shows (i.e State Fairs) which had these sort of rides and I would nevr have been so irresponsible - no matter how tired or hot I was - to have let a three year old child onto this sort of ride without me.

The mother lacked common sense.

 

[Gov Kodos]

Fine, castigate away, then.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

As a parent of two children ages 17 and 12, I have to completely agree with Miss Chicken. A three-year-old toddler had absolutely no business on this ride.

I can imagine a hot day, the kids are draining the last energies, and mom lets them on the ride just to have a couple of minutes of peace. It's all too easy to condemn parents when something goes wrong. No one can make the right decisions all the time. I'm sure she can beat herself up quite enough on her own.

And she damn well should. There is no excuse or reason to endanger a small child in this manner. I don't give a damn how exhausted the parent might feel. A child that age does not have the cognitive abilities to protect themselves from dangers and is completely dependent on the parent for that protection. It is the parent's responsibility (yes, that horrible R word) to protect that child and not pass off that responsibility to the 8-year-old sibling who also has not developed the necessary cognitive abilities to perceive certain dangers. Any responsible parent (with more than three synapses firing) would have said something along the lines of "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but you're not big enough for that ride yet. As soon as your brother is done we'll go find a ride for you."

Whoa Nellie

 

[Miss Chicken]

It seems the family has hired an attorney (is anyone surprised). He says that that the girl's twin brother was also on the ride. The mother is claiming that when she realised she was too big for the ride she asked the attendant if the children could still ride. The attendant wrongly stated it would be OK. However he could argue that he had good reason for believing the children were older, because they were far bigger than the average child of their age, whereas the mother knew exactly how old they were.

The mother than decided to put the 8 year old on with them. He was in charge of two 3 year olds.

The attorney is claiming that the girl wasn't strapped in properly and that she hasn't been acting like herself since her fall.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

It seems the family has hired an attorney (is anyone surprised).

Nope. Not surprised at all. I saw that one coming from a mile away. God forbid she should take personal responsibility for her own parenting skills (or serious lack there of). She put an 8-year-old in charge of not one, but two 3-year-old toddlers on a ride she had no business putting the toddlers on in the first place. I'd love to see a judge dismiss the case and then smack her with a child endangerment charge - it won't happen that way - but I'd love to see it.

Whoa Nellie

 

[{ Emilia }]

First this:

The mother lacked common sense.

Then:

The mother is claiming that when she realised she was too big for the ride she asked the attendant if the children could still ride. The attendant wrongly stated it would be OK.

So she was concerned and asked somebody who should know. Doesn't seem like a lack of common sense to me. Sorry, but I'm with Gov Kodos on this one. Starting one of those internet witch hunts before all facts are known seems annoying.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

{ Emilia } Doesn't seem like a lack of common sense to me.

It is a complete lack of common sense and a complete abdication of her parental responsibilities (yes, that horrible R word again). She leaves an 8-year-old child with the responsibility of handling two 3-year-old toddlers on an amusement park ride.

Common sense would have been to take the toddlers off the ride with her since she was not going to accompany them. There may have been a few tears but that is called parenting!

We can only pray that these small children have the fortune of coming through their mother's next lapses in judgement unhurt.

Whoa Nellie

 

[{ Emilia }]

She asked the guy running the thing whether or not it's safe.

Parenting is such a fun topic for an internet board, isn't it? All those heated opinions. Everybody has one.

You go on "praying", though. Sometimes I'm glad I'm atheist. I don't have to bother with that stuff.

 

[Miss Chicken]

The mother said she asked, I imagine that the guy will deny that he was asked.

But even if he was asked - the twins were both at least 42 inches tall, at least the height of an average 6 year old boy. The guy, for good reason, probably thought that they were much older than what they were. The mother on the other hand knew exactly how young they were and knowingly left an eight year old in charge of two three year olds.

 

[Finn]

She asked the guy running the thing whether or not it's safe.

Parenting is such a fun topic for an internet board, isn't it? All those heated opinions. Everybody has one.

You go on "praying", though. Sometimes I'm glad I'm atheist. I don't have to bother with that stuff.

I wouldn't rely on the opinion of a ride attendant.


p.s. there are atheists who pray.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Not to mention that the word 'pray' wasn't used in a religious sense in this case. It was probably used in a way that meant 'hope'.

I am an atheist and I sometimes say "Good Heavens" even though I don't believe in a heaven at all.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

Not to mention that the word 'pray' wasn't used in a religious since in this case. It was probably used in a way that meant 'hope'.

When I wrote that I was using "pray" a synonym for hope.

Whoa Nellie

 

[Shatnertage]

Miss Chicken, Whoa Nellie, and Finn said everything I would say here.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

We can only pray that these small children have the fortune of coming through their mother's next lapses in judgement unhurt.

Also the fortune she might get from litigation would do nicely.