Think before exposing kids to secondhand smoke, violent movies
Consider this one of my rant columns. Two things happened in recent days that really rubbed me the wrong way. I hope most of you would feel similarly.
On the first occasion, I saw a woman smoking in her car with the windows up and children in the back seat.
To me, that is child abuse. In some ways, it's worse than laying a hand on a child because of the potential long-term health concerns.
According to the American Nonsmokers Rights Foundation website, exposing passengers, both children and adults to secondhand smoke in the confined space of a car is "extremely hazardous."
Because children's bodies are proportionately smaller the article states, they take in a larger volume of air. Smoking pollutes that air.
And cracking the windows or leaving one wide open may help but does not prevent the smoke from reaching the lungs of the child.
We are talking toxic air at levels many times higher than what the EPA considers hazardous.
Moreover, the gases and particulates of tobacco smoke absorb into the upholstery and other surfaces of the car - or thirdhand smoke - and re-emits into the air over time, exposing passengers to toxins long after anyone actually smoked in the car.
In short, there is no safe level of secondhand or thirdhand smoke.
So, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles ... please think twice before lighting up inside the car with children aboard. You may think you are protecting these children by opening a window. In reality, you aren't.
As someone who grew up around smokers, I remember quite well inhaling smoke inside the car. It wasn't pleasant decades ago, and it remains unpleasant today.
The other occurrence that angered me this week came at the movie theater.
A friend of mine and I went to watch "Rambo: Last Blood." We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we went - blood and guts.
But why would any adult with half a brain take a child under the age of 10 to see this movie? It was easily the most violent movie I have ever seen. I just don't get it. When a little kid with an impressionable mind sees stuff like that, he could become desensitized to real-life blood and guts or perhaps becomes emotionally scarred.
According to the psychology today website, there is documented evidence that exposure to violent media does makes children more aggressive in their behavior.
Many kids will imitate what they see. That's why it's important to have a clue before taking your kid to the theater or allowing them to watch a certain show on TV, or play a certain video game that contains high volumes of violence. None of us can completely control a child's exposure to media violence, but we can certainly make an effort.