carnival

[spacefem]

cw: child loss

There was a street carnival in town this weekend and we weren't going to go, because we stopped going to those. a few years back a little girl, granddaughter of a colleague of mine, was electrocuted and died. it was the most tragic accident. someone at the carnival hadn't connected something right, hadn't grounded something right, this little girl was just playing around in line for a ride and grabbed wrong metal handrail. the whole city of wichita was speechless. we had no carnivals for a while. the newspaper ran articles about how carnival safety regulations are lax, the staff is poorly trained, the staff is poorly paid, it's bad news.

we used to love carnivals. it's probably been 4-5 years since the accident. when I drive by them now I look at the fun rides and I feel conflicted. life is kind of about risk, right? thousands and thousands of people still line up for these rides and how on earth could something so bad happen to that one little girl? my kids know the story. we re-tell it, because for the first year or two we'd go to other festivals but there was no WAY we were going to a parking lot traveling carnival, no matter how much I remember olive loving the little caterpillar roller coaster.

but this weekend josie's friend invited her, so I started to change my mind a little... shouldn't we all go? why am I so hung up? accidents happen all the time. I let me kids swim in pools, and I know kids who've drowned. I drive in a car, and I know a lot of people who've died in car accidents. how long will I drive by carnivals, full of kids being safe and having fun, letting this one news story eat at me?

then get this... olive didn't want to go. I had just written a blog post about how her videogame addiction seemed better and she wanted to go to parks, but when I offered to take her to the carnival with josie's friend, she passed. I asked her if it was about the accident, she said no. she just didn't want to go.

so she didn't. josie came home later, with little stuffed animals she'd won at a game, saying the food was good, the rides were fun, olive didn't care.

I guess it's safer, but I still wonder if I've scared my kid needlessly? or if I've scared my kid for a GOOD reason because safety really is a concern? I can't tell.

Comments

[wantedonvoyage]

It's probably a stereotype but I associate those things with people they hire on the spot without a lot of training. I read somewhere that in NYC the division of the Department of Buildings that is responsible for elevators also has responsibility for carnival rides, because... they plug in?

[senmut]

Very hard to say.

[adafrog]

Hard one. Kids need to be able to do things, but we need to keep them safe. How safe is too safe?

[dandylover1]

It does sound as if you overreacted a bit. However, the fact that it happened right in your town, and that, such places aren't exactly known for safety does lend credence to your concerns, so I can understand the dilemma. More than that, these are your children, and it is perfectly natural to want to protect them, especially from something which can easily be prevented. That said, I am glad that at least one of them had fun.

[low_delta]

Statistically speaking, she is not going to get hurt. Also, I would think that safety has improved in the aftermath of that incident. The problem is that if something did happen, you'd never forgive yourself after agonizing about it for those years. (I mean, I don't know how you'd really react, but that's the big danger, IMO.)

Last December, I was in Mexico, with some people who decided to check out a carnival.
https://low-delta.dreamwidth.org/1760887.html
Check out the base of the ferris wheel in pic #3. I saw it in the daylight, and told myself there was no way I would ride that. But then Deedee wanted to ride it, so she did and she was fine. I felt a little foolish for declining. But...

[fbhjr]

They don’t have them around here anymore because of a similar thing in my town where someone was killed.
There are levels of risk. And, lots of folks are opting to stay in a bit more these days…

[halfmoon_mollie1]

As a parent, you need to make choices. I'd say your choice was a good one. I don't know the ages of your daughters, but it sounds like they are old enough to think about it.And I know your post was not about the ride itself, but the procedures that should have been followed. The State Fair is held right here, across Onondaga Lake from me. The Wild Mouse (a kind of roller coaster in a very small space) one summer had several accidents happen, at least one was fatal. I'm not necessarily a ride person but I sure would never go on that, even now. And yet I KNOW the rides are all inspected before they open the gates. AND in reply to one of the other posters, it is the Department of Labor: Amusement Park and Fair Ride Safety that is responsible for inspections of carnival rides here in NY State. That includes NYC as well.

[sherlockishere]

I really feel for you about this. Honestly, I think we all do the best we can with the information we have. You experienced that loss, with your community, and it's now incorporated in who you are. Of course it affects you, but I don't think that's wrong at all. We do the best we can to keep our children safe, and when they're older, they will have the ability to make those decisions themselves.

[siglinde999]

What a tragedy for that family. Perhaps Olive genuinely wasn’t interested in the carnival. Maybe she would have been a bit more interested if one of her friends was going, or maybe she truly doesn’t like the noise and crowds.