Parent of the Year?

Tis the season when all sorts of "of the year's" have been coming out. Since we're now one month into 2025, most of the "of the year" moments have passed. Book of the Year. Word of the Year. Recipe of the Year. Person of the Year. (Errrrr, let's forget about that one.)

But I hope that it's not too late to add another category, because I've got a new one. And while these nimrods are a late entry - having claimed the crown on Christmas Day 2024 -  I'm going to say that for Parents of the Year, there was no contest.

The Kilauea volcano in Hawaii began erupting in late December, with lava fountains that have been acting up. I'm sure it's quite a spectacular site, and it's been drawing damn-the-danger visitors to the Kilauea Overlook to see what's going on.

I'm sure that the folks who run the park are perfectly capable of monitoring volcanic activity, so it's not like Kilauea is going to blow its stack (or what's left of it) and turn all those lookie loos into Insta Pompeii-ites. Still, no one is allowed to get to close to the edge to peer into the boiling bubbling caldera. This is an active volcano, after all, and taking a header, well, talk about Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here.  There's an inferno down below, and the area around the crater is roped off to keep people out of danger:

The park service and park rangers remind visitors to stay on the trail, stay out of closed areas and to keep their children close, especially when watching Kilauea from viewpoints along Crater Rim Trail. (Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser)

But one family took their eye off a toddler and he sprinted to the edge before the mom noticed and managed to grab her kiddo just before he reached the rim. 

Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park public affairs specialist Jessica Ferracane said there were roughly six or seven adults in the family standing in an open area.

“They weren’t paying attention, and the child wandered into the closed area,” she said.

I never had kids, but I've spent enough time with toddlers to know that you can't take your eye off them for a nanosecond. Those kiddos can move pretty darned fast on those chubby little legs. There are always horror stories about kids wandering out of the house, out of the backyard, and drowning, getting hit by a car, getting lost in the woods. And that's when it's in a should-be-safe home and backyard. Not in a place where there is clear and present danger. As in the company of an active volcano.

The little boy was within a foot of the edge of the caldera when his mother managed to grab him.

Ferracane said if he had gone over the edge, it would have been a certainly fatal, 400-foot fall into Kaluapele, the volcano’s summit caldera, and “a horrible way to remember Christmas.”

Forget about Christmas. That would have been a pretty horrible way to remember period.

"The hazards that coincide with an eruption are dangerous, and we have safety measures in place including closed areas, barriers, closure signs, and traffic management,” said park Superintendent Rhonda Loh in a written statement. “Your safety is our utmost concern, but we rely on everyone to recreate responsibly. National parks showcase nature’s splendor but they are not playgrounds.”

Maybe if safety is an "utmost concern" there should be an age limit, with signs clearly spelling out exactly why there's an age limit. Or, if there's no will to impose an age limit, maybe at least go with a sign about the dangers. This would presumably get parents thinking about why it's a not-so-good-idea to take small children into perilous situations.

Look, I know that the last thing these parents need is an opionated blogger 5,000 miles from Hawaii hectoring them about their poor parenting skills. And I'm quite sure that these parents are reliving that nightmare morning, noon, and night. Especially the mother who was able to save her son in the nick of time, and who could see for herself what nature may have had in store for her little guy. 

In truth, I'm probably just pissed because it's giving me - an opinionated blogger 5,000 miles from Hawaii - the willies just thinking about this incident. 

Hard not to get a little judge-y, though. Surely among the six or seven adults in this little guy's family at least one could have been the designated child-watcher.

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I first saw a referene to this incident in The Guardian , but the Honlulu paper's story was more complete.