Wyndsong Writes

Personal responsibility seems to be a forgotten ability.  In a day and age where anyone can sue anyone about anything, we’ve lost the meaning of Personal responsibility.  And things just keep getting worse.  There’s little to no common sense and no one seems to be teaching it any more!  Where there’s no common sense, personal responsibility is lacking as well.

So what does this have to do with baby slings and their recall?  Well, the government feels the need to “take over” where there is a lack of common sense and personal responsibility.  Which of course, just perpetuates and encourages more of the same.

Over the years I’ve seen this happen time and time again, especially where kids are involved in the equation.  An unattentive parent allows their child to get hurt, then turns and sues whatever business is involved, then the government sanctions business or declares a recall on the product.  Thereby rewarding irrisponsible parenting.

Recently, it came to my attention about these baby slings.  A young mother tragically lost her baby while using one.  She was shopping in Costco while wearing her baby, and when she got to the parking lot she found that her baby had stopped breathing.  This is the worst thing that can happen to a mother.  I can’t imagine this happening… well actually I can, as most mothers probably do, I worried about this kind of thing happening to my kids all the time.  That really hasn’t changed since they’ve gotten older, just the scenarios have changed.  Those scenarios in my head are why I cry all the time at movies and tv shows that have kids in harms way, because I think of my kids being hurt.  **shudder**

Anyway, I realize that this is a horrible tragedy.  I feel tremendous saddness and sympathy for this mom.  However, this young mother is suing the baby sling manufacturer now for her baby’s death.  That’s when my eyebrows popped up!  This mother has been through a lot, but why would anyone allow her to blame the baby sling for this?  I mean, she doesn’t need people pointing fingers at her and calling her a murderer.  It was an accident, but was it the slings fault?  Or was it her lack of paying attention to her small baby?

Shouldn’t a mother already know that a small baby who can’t hold their head up, can’t just be ignored in a sling for even a few minutes, let alone hours?  Shouldn’t she have been checking on her baby multiple times to make sure he was alright?  The baby sling isn’t equiped with computerized warning mechanisms, with bells that go off when your baby isn’t moving… shouldn’t she have realized something was wrong when he wasn’t moving around?

I checked on my kids constantly when they were small.  One of the reasons I liked sleeping with my babies was because I could feel them breathing.  I could rouse in the middle of the night and see that they were alright.  Yes, maybe I was hyper-vigilent, but it’s better to be overly cautious than to go through something like this!

So then, I go and find out that the CPC is investigating 14 infant deaths in relation to these slings.  14 deaths… seems like a lot, until you realize that it’s 14 deaths over 20 years.  20 years!!  Now, in a country as large and populated as the US is, 14 deaths is a tiny fraction of the population, for even 1 year.  But it’s almost miniscule when considering 20 years!  That’s not even 1 baby a year!!

Yes, I know what you’re thinking.  “But even one infant’s death is too many”.  And you’re right, it’s tragic, it’s horrible, it’s sad.  But is it really the slings fault?  Did they do anything wrong?  Should there be a recall on them because a handful of people are not paying attention enough to their babies and don’t have any common sense??  I say no.  I can see the CPC saying to sling manufacturers, that they have to put clear instructions and warnings on the slings.  But that should be the extint of this whole thing.  Of course, to me that’s like places having to put warnings on coffees “contents may be hot”.  (DUH!  That’s why I got coffee instead of iced tea.)  But I’d be ok with that, not thrilled, but ok.  But this whole recall thing, and the lawsuit.  That’s rediculous!

But then again, this has been happening for years!  The parents who let their toddler get out of the Disney ride and was crushed, is a perfect example of this.  There this little toddler was sitting in the Roger Rabbit ride with his father AND his grandmother and neither one of them had a grip on him.  Somehow this little boy got out of the car and fell onto the track of the ride, with NEITHER adult holding onto him.  And they sued Disney for this happening.  Without ANYONE saying… ummm… where were you two adults????

There was another story like this recently that is actually worse.  A truck driver ran over a child, I believe killing them, while backing up his truck.  The parents are suing the company of the truck.  Seems logical, right?  Until you find out that the parent of the child is the truck driver that ran over her!  Yea, that’s right!  The truck driver had brought his wife and young daughter with him on his run to see relatives.  They stopped to get gas.  When they were leaving, the driver (and I guess his wife too) somehow forgot to look to see where HIS OWN CHILD was, and backed right over her.  How does that happen?!?!  NOW, they are suing his employer for this accident happening!

WHAT?!?!  What lawyer would even take this case?  I can’t imagine this not being thrown out… but then again, I can’t imagine someone sueing McDonalds for spilling hot coffee on themselves and winning 2 million dollars!  But it happens all the time.  I spill coffee on myself all the time too… guess I should be considering suing Folgers for my laundry.

I just think that in these cases, no one should be suing anyone.   I can’t imagine how I would react in these situations.  If my baby or child died because of my actions or lack there of, I’d be suicidal for sure.  Mostly because I would be blaming myself, not anyone else.   Which I don’t think these people should be condemed or tortured for their actions… loosing a child is torture enough.  But I just think they shouldn’t be allowed to punish businesses who aren’t at fault in anyway for these tragedies either.