I’ve been finding myself taking mini-breaks from personal finance related posts lately, but being that it’s summer, we’re all entitled to breaks in some sort.

Even so, the topic of today’s post isn’t money related, but it’s not lighthearted, and I’m sure some will agree with me while I would expect that others may not. Whatever side of the fence you fall in, we’re all entitled to our opinion. Since this is my blog, here’s mine in plain and simple terms:

I’m sick of reading stories about hot cars and pit bulls killing children. It needs to stop. Right now.

HOT CARS

As it’s around the hottest time of the year here in the good old Midwest USA, it’s unfortunately also peak time where I read stories about kids getting left in cars, only to be found dead by their parent or someone.

I’m a parent to two young children, and I can imagine that the grief of losing a child must be incredible, something which I could never imagine. When I hear of a parent losing their child, I have a tremendous amount of sympathy, empathy, and sadness. But, I’m not going to lie. When I read that their child died because they were left in a car, I also add anger to that list.

Most times, you hear about some disruption in routine happening that precedes the child getting left in the car. Mom couldn’t take the kid to day care, so she asked Dad to drop him off at day care. Dad agreed, but once in the car, normal routine took over, and Dad drives right to work. Something like that happens more often than not. Whatever the case is, it still makes me mad.

I’ll be honest. I’m not a perfect parent by any stretch of the imagination. Whether it’s snapping at one of my kids for doing something wrong, or not reading enough to them, or missing out on an opportunity for some playtime, there’s moments in every day that I wish, as a parent, I could do over. I know I could do better than that. But, never once in my five years of being a parent have I once forgotten that I have a child in the backseat of my car!

I don’t care what the excuse is, there isn’t one. Not when it comes to forgetting that your kid is in the car. No parent would ever stick their kid in an oven, so don’t leave them in one.

PIT BULLS

Maybe I’ll catch some flak for this one, but in all honesty, I don’t care. I’m sick of reading stories about kids getting killed or maimed because of a pit bull, the family pet, that turns on the kid. It happens far too often and it needs to stop.

Look, I like dogs. I don’t have one, but I like dogs a lot. But, when there’s a pattern that stands out of one particular breed being more aggressive and more likely to snap, I just don’t see how that mixes.

People will make arguments about why my stand is wrong.

People will argue that it’s the way the owners raise the dogs that makes them aggressive. People will argue that other breeds of dogs sometimes attack as well. People will argue that their dog isn’t like that. People will argue all sorts of things, and to every one of them I’ll say: It doesn’t matter to me.

Pit bulls are the most likely of dog breeds to attack. Even if they’ve never attacked before, why would you want to subject your young, often defenseless children, to those odds? I mean, let’s be honest, if pit bulls weren’t the most violent and aggressive by nature, would the people who train dogs to fight pick a different breed? They don’t. They pick pit bulls. Without question, they pick pit bulls.

Doesn’t that tell you something?

Other dog breeds may have instances of attack. I’m not saying that we need to get rid of all dogs. That’s crazy. But, when pit bulls attack more often and their attacks are more vicious, I just don’t get why some parents effectively choose to play Russian Roulette with their kids lives.

People who want to talk themselves into believing otherwise are more than welcome to do so, but let’s be clear, we don’t and won’t ever have a pit bull in our house. Especially around young kids. And, honestly, if a situation arose where my children wanted to play at a friend’s house where a pit bull lived, I would likely say no. We’re not restrictive parents like that. We let our kids have play dates. We take them to parks, we let them play around the subdivision. But on certain things, I’ll draw the line.

Pit bulls, they’re definitely past the lines.

In both cases, with hot cars and pit bulls, I think the horror stories that come out again and again can be avoided. And they should be.

What do you think, readers?