For a period of time when I was a JW, I lived with a family of JWs. They had 2 young children under 12. The family were good friends with another JW family who had 3 children under 12.
So we’re talking about 5 kids under 12, this will be important later.
Anyway, I came home one day from work to find the two mums and their kids at our place. Apparently the two dads (both MS’s) had gone off to play tennis or something while the mums and kids stayed behind at our place to talk and play.
The kids of the 2 nd family wanted to go home, but as the 2 dads had taken both their cars, they were all stuck at our place.
Now their house was within walking distance, albeit a long walk. The sun hadn’t set yet, so they had time to get home before it got dark, if they’d wanted to.
I was on my way out again so they asked if I would take the kids of both families to the 2 nd family’s home. I can’t remember what the mum was going to do, so I won’t speculate.
So there were 5 kids to fit into my car (and possibly the mother) while my car only had 4 spare seatbelts. Now, seatbelts are compulsory in my country, so it would have meant one kid not legally having a seatbelt.
For me, that had several ramifications. Firstly, it’s illegal for a child to ride unrestrained, so I would have been doing something against the law (keep in mind I was a conscientious JW, though I still think this is an important law to follow). One child could have sat in the front seat restrained, but try squeezing 4 kids into a backseat and I doubt that any of them would have kept their seatbelts on, let alone wear them properly. So if I’d been pulled over by a cop, I’d be fined $100 per unrestrained child.
Secondly, and to me more importantly, was the safety of driving with unrestrained kids. What if we were in an accident? Imagine the scene if something like that happened! I loved these kids and there was no way I would have been able to live with myself if anything had happened to them while in my care.
With these points in mind, I said no to the mums. They looked at me in disbelief(!) I was always the young, naïve, happy-to-please JW sister yet here I was daring to say no to 2 MS’ wives??? I explained that I was happy to take the kids in 2 trips, as in 3 at one time and 2 at the second time, but they said no.
So I had to say sorry, but because of the seatbelt issue I’m not taking the kids in one go and if you don’t want that, I can’t help you.
Anyway, living in a country where seatbelt laws are compulsory (Australia) I just thought it was so strange for two JW mums were prepared to put their kids’ safety at risk just for the sake of convenience. And they wanted to put someone else in the firing line should anything had happened. I also got the impression they had the expectation that I would jump at their command to do anything for them, even if it was illegal and dangerous.