Does it make me a bad parent???

[Mandelon]

I let my kids ride in the back of our camper on the way back from Bass Lake on Friday. The ride took 9 hours due to heavy LA traffic. They were getting pretty bored, and the traffic was moving slowly......so I let them go back there to play and lay out on the big bed.
It is legal but some would say unsafe. I have let them do it on desolate stretches of road before, but never on the freeway.
Would you do it? :confused:
http://www.hotboatpics.com/pics/data/500/42Bass_Lake_111-med.jpg

[LaveyJet]

As long as you can talk to them, sliding window or intercom, its cool. I've done the same.

[CEO]

Tough call, you know if you get hit, the kids are flying around like ping pong balls. Personally I would let them as long as I was driving :D

[Mandelon]

Knowing how most RV's are built I think they would be better off in the big truck/Camper.
Seatbelted in the backseat is the safest though.........when I was a kid we never had to wear seatbelts. I used to get to ride up on the shelf behind the back seats.... :eek:

[phebus]

It would be tough being the bad guy, but I would never let them do it. After being a firefighter/paramedic for 20+ years, I have just seen to many bad things happen. It just takes a second for your life to be ruined.

[GlastronGuy]

My uncle did that with my cousins when they were little.
When he stopped for gas he went and opened the canopy to check on them. From what he said, there was blood every where. He thought someone had gotten in somehow and stabbed them.
But that wasn't it. They had all puked up blood and passed out because of carbon monoxide poisoning. If he had gone on much longer they would have died.

[JetBoatRich]

My uncle did that with my cousins when they were little.
When he stopped for gas he went and opened the canopy to check on them. From what he said, there was blood every where. He thought someone had gotten in somehow and stabbed them.
But that wasn't it. They had all puked up blood and passed out because of carbon monoxide poisoning. If he had gone on much longer they would have died.
Was it an camper like Mandelon's or shell :messedup: That is bad news.

[STGP]

Got to say NO WAY-it's very very dangerous. Better to have cranky kids than injured ones.

[dexman38]

you are not a bad parent . you spend time with your kids. riding the kids in the back of the camper. thats a tough call their are a lot of thinks that could go wrong. slow traffic and a long ride i would my let them ride back in the camper, my wife would say no way.

[Sleek-Jet]

How many people with motor homes make sure the kids are belted in when the rig is in motion??

[Debbolas]

We bought a Lance camper in 1995 and drove it from California to Texas with the kids in the back. After our young son opened the back door on a highway in Lousiana, I would always ride in the back with them.
Now we have a A class RV and they just ride all over. The people in the front have to buckle up.
It is your decision. We have some friends with a camper that NEVER let their kids ride back there.

[Raskal]

man i used to ride all over the place in my dads 20 years ago .we would go to canada every year for 2 weeks and thats all we rode in .but my wife would never let that happen now with my kids. i say its ok if you were in slow moving trafic like you said . :D

[Screemy1]

Put them in the boat... they can act like they are driving... J/K, I think it is fine.... I have done EMT work in the past... I have seen wrecks were the only person killed or injured was the one belted... the others were ejected and walked away.... Don't think it is bad....All these replys of death though.. might be scary..... I think it is fine.... sliding rear window in the truck.... hell, I would climb back there and chill with them... :)

[gigamurph]

I don't think that what ya did qualifies you as a bad parent Mandelon. You're not the first nor will ya be the last to allow the kids the treat of ridin' in the camper. We always enjoyed ridin' in the camper. Of course, that was the only place to ride because that was before the days of the extended and crew cabs. (......and no, it wasn't a covered wagon either ya wise guys!) Just be extra careful and alert. Slow down and drive even more defensively than ya normally do and God willin', you and yours will be fine. :)
titties and beer, loved your story. Brought a chuckle to me and an ache to my heart; as well as a few similar memories. I miss my Dad too. Dads are the greatest. I hope that my kids can remember me as fondly as I do my Dad. If they can, then I did alright. :smile:

[Drunk tank]

Damn right youre a bad parent!!!! You let your kids go have fun! Them SOBs should of been left at home with no supervision all hoped up on ritilan and poontang! Better yet, they should of been at work! What are they... 7..8? that aint too young to be pickin cotton and avocados! Youre spoiling them damn youngins'!!!
Ridding in the camper... what are these new age hippy parents gonna think of next....takin the bastids to the beach? :notam:

[XTRM22]

Times have definitely changed, When I was a kid my dad would get off work at 5:00 in Bagdad Az. and put us kids in sleeping bags in the back of or Ford pickup with no shell or canopy, we'd ride back there all the way to South Cove on Lake Mead. (4 hours) but any screwing around would gotten similar results to titties & Beer's story.
Chuck

[Mandelon]

I remember having 10 or 12 people in the back of an open bed pickup riding around town when I was a kid. Well before the seatbelt laws came around....

[Drunk tank]

yes... the days of personal responsibility.... When you could fall out of the bed of your buddys truck drunk and break your leg... and it was your own damn fault and you knew and acknowledged it....
Think thats still the way it works in Montana and the Dakotas still..... In Cali the government would whipe your ass for ya in order to prevent you from giving yourself toilet paper burn (if there was such a thing)

[Liberator TJ1984]

Only thing I would worry about is if you were in an accident and they got injured :confused: You would probably get thrown in jail for Child Endangerment the way things are now days :idea:
we all know anything fun these days is against the Law :mad: