I urge all of you to go to Parents.com to see how your state did in these kid safety ratings. It is pretty eye opening, I thought Colorado would rank high but we were dwelling the cellar at 39th.
Kid Safety State by State, How Do You Rank?
Beat ya!
Kansas was 27th. Whoopeee! Of course, the things that I look for in terms of safety and what that magazine looks for... we differ. But my granddaddy always said: Liars figure and figures lie. You and I can argue and twist those numbers for eons and never determine whose kids are actually "safer."
Don't worry Milehi, I like visiting Colorado. I'm not scared away from your state (except for one particular gas station in Limon, but that's a long story.)
#8
Massachusetts is #8! I'm so proud, my eyes are welling up.
Of course, I didn't actually look at the criteria because by the time all the pop-up windows looking for subscription money and whatnot finished I was half asleep.
I like that site for Neal Pollack's column, though. He's funny as hell and his kid's a smart-aleck.
Not a fan of Neal Pollock
And I got his from you in my RSS sunscriptions this morning MileHi (thank you). It's an arbitrary ranking, made to sell magazines and thus dupe folks into buying things they don't need. It's also inaccurate, booster seats are only required here until 5 years old or 40 pounds.
But it is nice to see Alabama rank in something where it isn't dead last.
34th and we beat out those goody-two-shoes in Georgia. Mississippi is dead last.
-Will
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Pollack is an acquired taste
I've enjoyed watching Pollack evolve from too-cool snarky hipster to a dad struggling to raise a son amid all the mania he's chosen to put himself through in La La Land. I don't always like everything he writes, but quite often the stuff that he and his son talk about, or the stuff that his son puts him and his wife through, I relate to on every level. I've met him a few times and he's a pretty decent guy.
Jealous??
Will,
just because Georgia outranks you in education AND teen preggos (still, we're @ the bottom), don't feel so defeated. Bask in the glory of beating GA in SOMETHING ! I say this with love and sympathy (and my wife is a native Alabamian) the best thing to come out of AL is I-20 (east to the ATL) BOO-ya!
Aye, there's nary an animal alive that can outrun a greased scotsman...
Just as I was reading this the Emergency Broadcast System said:
Child abduction in broad daylight; Amber alerts for central and NorCal for a black honda with a white door and green license plate frame.
Zack or Zane Newton is the missing kid. White, sandy hair.
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What does this mean?
"Where in America is a child least likely to be hurt?" the article asks and purports to have the answers. What a bogus and overly-simplified statement.
I live in Urban New Jersey and consider it MUCH less safe than our rural Michigan house we moved from 9 months ago. That said, NJ ranks 3rd on the list. Here is their reason why:
Excels At: Keeping unsafe products out of childcare centers. Before the rash of recalls because of lead paint last year, the state had passed legislation requiring these facilities to check cribs, toys, and other products against a list of potential health and safety threats. The repercussions for noncompliance are serious: Violators may lose their license.
Hmmm, as a full-time stay at home dad, this means absolutely nothing to me, zero, zilch, nada.
Still Hazardous: Improperly installed car seats. New Jersey has just 18 car-seat check sites for its more than 6 million residents, the second-worst rate in the country. Since many parents, especially first-timers, botch car-seat installation, getting your seat checked is a smart idea, says Karen Aldana, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spokesperson.
This also means nothing to me, I have never had my car seat checked, but I swear to you, you could attach a Ford F-150 to the harness in my child seats and pull the car with it. The belts would break long before the car seat would move an inch from its installed position.
So neither their best or worst issue effects me whatsoever. And come on, how many people have ever taken their car to a car seat checking anyway? AAA runs them all the time, but I guess they're not state-sponsored, so don't count.
My son used to be able to ride his bike on our neighborhood streets in Michigan, but I won't let him ride on the sidewalk in NJ without my accompaniment. With so many people everywhere, the odds of him being injured while biking, skateboarding, scootering or walking are much higher, not to mention the aspect of child abduction or abuse by strangers. In our rural atmosphere, there just weren't too many weird people we had to worry about. The sheer "numbers" in NJ make it a higher probability.
I question the basis on which they made these recommendations... bogus... MI is ranked #33 to NJ's #3, but I felt much safer there.
Cheers,
PittCaleb
This is what it means
Those are exactly the issues I was talking about. The issues that are important to the editors of a fear-mongering mag like "Parents" are not the issues that are important to raising my children.
I do have to say, as a matter of course, I did have carseats checked when the kids were of that age. I just went to the local police station. They said I can apparently read directions. Common sense.
But the magazine's approach to overall safety is silly in my own estimation. Fourteen of the 21 "Accident-Related Benchmarks" have the word "laws" in them, suggesting government intervention to make our lives better. Others use the word "requirements." Not much about common parenting sense.
Joined: 2006-11-06
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