Why do I bother watching WSMV News?

Seriously. I usually end up mouth agape, chin on the floor, yelling at the tv almost as loudly as I do during the presidential debates or a state of the union address when a Republican is in office. Tonight it was over child safety seats and the lack of adequate use of them in Tennessee. Our local Channel 4 News anchor, Demetria Kalodimos ,followed up the story with what I can only assume was her feeble attempt at showing empathy for the offenders by saying " some of those seats can be really difficult to figure out how to use though" ...What? Did I just hear that? Really? I'm sorry, but if you can't determine how to use the damned car seat, you don' t need to be raising a child! They come with friggin' instructions, and a diagram! Now if she wanted to empathize with the non-compliant parents, then discuss the expense of car seats. Even that isn't a good excuse. Honestly, if you can't afford a car seat, you sure don't need to have kids. But I realize people find themselves in situations that they can't change after the fact. I can fully sympathize with the parent who can't afford the often astronomical prices stores charge for car seats. I checked it out, they seem to range from $59.99 - 199.99 for the average car seat. That's a lot of money. That's a whole lotta money for someone who may be working a minimum wage job. But then, choices we make in life, be they about family, employment, what have you, are ours to make. Once we make those choices, it is up to us to do the best we can with them. Now as a parent working a minimum wage job, if you can't afford a car seat, the best thing you can do for your child is to have someone you trust to stay at home with them while you go out. You will eventually need a car seat for Dr.'s appointments and necessities like that, so now it's time to re-evaluate your situation. I used to know someone who just buckled in their 4 year old to the back seat no car seat, just the seat belt. Saying, " I can't afford those things!" Yet every couple of days she was buying a case of beer and two cartons of cigarettes a week, one for each her and the hubby. In one weeks time that family's beer and cigarettes would have paid for a car seat for the kid. I bought them one one weekend when I babysat and refused to transport a child illegally and unsafely. Maybe the story the news should have focused on would have been the cost of car seats and how low income families can find affordable ones rather than how difficult they can be to figure out how to use. And it may have been worth mentioning that the United Way has a program to help low income families obtain child safety seats, they can be reached by dialing 211. Thanks WSMV for thorough and accurate investigative journalism, as always.