Unintended Consequences

For many years the Chinese have restricted the number of children their marrieds can have in the interest of curbing their population growth. I've always been quietly proud that we have not had to live with such an edict, but lately I've given thought to another form of child-limitation laws.

For most people in the U.S.A. there is a limit on how many children any couple can have. In practical terms it is eight. In even more practical terms it is four. But for most people, the limit is three.

So, you say, "There's no law like that in our country!" Yup, there is. It's one of those pesky "unintended consequences" that my hubby is always warning about.

Every child under the age of four (I think that's the age, but I may be wrong) has to sit in an approved child restraint seat. Every other person in the auto has to be seatbelted. So, count the seatbelts in an ordinary car. The answer is _______, (making the limit 2 adults and three children).

If you have four children, your vehicle must seat ____, which means you have to own a minivan.

The upper limit, unless you want to drive a school bus or take two cars everywhere, is eight, and you have to buy, maintain, and gas up a full-sized van.

I'm not proposing that we change any safety law. Goodness knows seatbelts and child restraint seats have saved countless lives and prevented a myriad of injuries. But, when we're criticizing China for their limiting law, we must also recognize that we live with some limitations ourselves.