Every time someone plays music at the beach, stays out late, or does literally anything slightly inconvenient, someone jumps in with: “But what if a child is in danger? What if someone’s drowning and we can’t hear them?” As if it’s now every stranger’s job to be an unpaid lifeguard or parent just for existing nearby.
Here’s the thing: kids are not everyone’s responsibility. Their safety is up to their guardians — not random people enjoying their day. Using “what about the children” to guilt others into silence, boredom, or hypervigilance is just emotional manipulation wrapped in fake moral superiority.
Public spaces are for everyone, not just families with kids. If you need complete control of your environment to feel safe as a parent, that’s a you problem — not society’s.