You can never be too careful

Can you believe those irresponsible parents? Letting their children walk around the neighborhood unsupervised!? That's a recipe for abduction, that is. Every year in the United States, somewhere between 100 and 200 children are abducted by strangers. That's, on average, about 1 every 3 days or so. So I never let my child out without me watching. You can never be too careful.

That's why, when I have to drive somewhere, I leave my child behind. Can you imagine those irresponsible parents who put their kids in a car, ever? Car accidents kill about 1300 young kids (ages 0-14) a year, and injure hundreds of thousands more. And I'll never let my kids drive, because about 3000-4000 older kids a year die in cars. You can never be too careful.

I've taken the precaution of turning off the water to my house, and we never go near pools, since childhood drownings account for well over 1000 child deaths a year.

I've also removed all blankets and plastic bags, because suffocation accounts for about 1000 child deaths a year. And medicines and household cleaners are banned, since 700 or 800 kids die of unintentional poisonings each year. And I've disconnected the gas and electricity, lest my child become one of the 500 who die in fires.

It goes without saying that things like bicycling, running, and climbing are right out. Hundreds of thousands of kids are seriously injured in falls and bicycle accidents each year and need to go to the emergency room.

And let's not forget assault and molestation! Damn pedophiles! There are tens of thousands of instances of child abuse and sexual assault reported every year. Most of them happen in the child's home, and the vast vast majority are perpetrated by friends and relatives of the child. So that's why I never let my child alone with my spouse or extended family. And no baby sitters, ever.

You can never be too careful.

Some further reading on how you can never be too careful:

Child abductions

Missing children

Child deaths and injuries