Danger Around Every Corner



These scans of an old safety booklet for children called It's Great to be Alive! are full of gruesome injuries that befall careless bicycle riders, pedestrians, and kids at play.
In fairness, adults didn't have a lot of options in those days, so using abject fear was a common parenting tool. There were no reflective bicycle helmets or knee-pads for skateboarders, no designated bicycle lanes, many fewer supervised activities, and we didn't even have seat belts in cars until the mid-1960s. When accidents happened, they were usually pretty grim.

See more mayhem in this article from Gene Gable. Link -via TYWKIWDBI

When I taught preschool we did a unit on safety. I wanted the kids to take danger seriously- but didn't want to frighten them with gruesome pictures or anecdotes. My solution was a Humpty Dumpty cartoon character who did reckless things and ended up cracked, flattened, poached, etc... He was a hit!
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I effin love that. "DEATH IS AROUND EVERY TURN!!"
My parents used scenarios like that, and I am still alive. I however had to learn the hard way why you do not put a bobby pin into the outlet on the wall.

Buh - twice a year I have to get kids to practice a bus evacuation drill and they never take it serious, because they do not understand just how gruesome a tradgedy not escaping can turn out to be. Their parents also do not give a toss, or try in any way to help them understand.
I wish I could use something like that. Kids today are such delicate fragile little things. (insert roll eyes here)
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This reminds me of a poem by Edward Gorey, called "The Gashleycrumb Tinies":

A is for Amy who fell down the stairs
B is for Basil assaulted by bears
C is for Clara who wasted away
D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh...

and on down the alphabet like that.
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