If you have seen the news lately you are aware of how many children are being killed when accidentaly left in a car. It's an awful tragedy and I personally think that they should enact a law that if you have a child in a car seat, the right front seat needs folded all the way down to remind you of that child. God only knows why someone would need reminded in the first place, but it's obvious that some people do. So let's get a law enacted so that car manufacturers must design a folding right front seat in all vehicles, and another law that makes it mandatory that the seat is folded when a child is in the car. Obviously, when more that one adult is involved, the seat won't need folded down as there would be twice as many people there to make sure of the childs safety.
In any event, the Associated Press has conducted a study of these children who died after being trapped in cars over the last ten years. Their study found that there is a difference in the way that the parents of these unfortunate children are treated by the court system. Mothers are 26% more likely than fathers to do prison time. And of the parents prosecuted, 59% of mothers went to jail while only 47% of fathers did. Fathers who were prosecuted received a three year sentence while mothers prosecuted received a five year sentence.
Janette Fennell, president and founder of the nonprofit group Kids and Cars, is quoted as saying on the CBS Early Show, "I think it really must say that our society holds moms more accountable for taking care of children than fathers. You hear so many times that fathers are babysitting and moms are really the ones in charge of the children."
Now I don't know how you interpret these findings, but I take it to mean that us fathers just aren't gaining any ground in our battle to prove that we are just as capable as mothers at raising children. I was a single parent of two children for many years, and it wasn't babysitting.
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Glen C. Schulz