They do a lot of things differently here in China and sometimes I have to gasp. I remember when I first arrived we took a minibus to our campus and there were no seatbelts. Of course it had to be raining. I thought my knuckles would never regain their true color. Anyway, that was the first time Gracie rode in a car without a child restaint. Now we are very accustomed to jumping into the back of a taxi with her on our lap, but I still often direct the taxi drivers to be careful or slow down... not that they really listen to me.
You may think this is careless until you take a second look and see all the little families cruising around on a scooter or motorcycle. Sometimes Dad will be driving and mom will be balancing on the back with baby in arms. Or maybe a small child will sit between mom and dad, but my favorite is when a child stands on the foot rest of a scooter between the driver's legs. All of the above are quite common. For a twist and little more adventure I noticed that one mom had purchased a little wooden stool and her 2 or 3 year old daughter was actually sitting on the footrest between her legs. Now imagine all this taking place in the busiest intersection in Atlanta or Dallas. Yeah, and here they don't even pay attention to traffic signals or traffic lanes. And of course no one would even think of wearing a helment. Don't worry, I won't be teetering little Gracie on any two wheelers for a long time.
