Rossen to the Rescue by Jeff Rossen

Author:Jeff Rossen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flatiron Books

Confession: I Put My Kids in Danger

I like to take my kids to the train tracks. Maybe this hearkens back to my own childhood, when my dad took me to the tracks and I was mesmerized by the wooden planks, the iron bolts, and the steel lines that seemed to stretch from my feet to infinity. There’s a certain romance to trains. Unlike computers or the Internet or electrical cables, trains are something concrete, visible, that we can imagine connecting all of America.

I’ve always loved trains, my son loves trains, my daughters love—well, okay, my daughters can take them or leave them—but my son really, really loves trains. So we would often go to the train tracks, I would check the schedule to make sure no trains were coming, I would look in both directions to ensure the coast was clear, and then, when it was perfectly safe, we would stand on the tracks and snap some photos.

My dad and I did this when I was a kid, and somehow this made me feel connected to him, passing it down to the next generation. A great way for my kids to truly feel the magic of trains, as they would touch the wooden planks and I’d explain how a train works. Of course I remained aware of my surroundings, ready to scurry the kids off the tracks if I heard the distant rumbling of a locomotive.

I was actually proud of it, helping to teach my kids about the wonder of trains. So in an unrelated Rossen Reports segment, one of the photos I showed on TV was one of my kids standing on the tracks. But then I got a big surprise: a barrage of angry e-mails from viewers.

“You are a horrible parent.”

Another: “You’re the worst parent on earth.”

Another cheery note: “YOU’RE PUTTING YOUR KIDS IN DANGER.”

More: “Trains kill people on tracks. What’s wrong with you?”

And this one: “Don’t you watch the news?”

Wait, what the hell was going on? I don’t have any illusions that I’m the World’s Best Dad—coffee mug or no—but I didn’t think I was the absolute worst dad, either. Yet somehow I had become Public Enemy #1.

Again, for context, I had checked the train schedule—all clear!—and I listened carefully for the sound of approaching trains, ensuring that my kids were not at risk. But the e-mails, tweets, and Facebook messages kept flooding in.

“How dare you say you’re an expert!”

“I HATE YOU, JEFF ROSSEN.”

I did more research, and sure enough, the outraged viewers were right: Trains were killing people and, specifically, they were killing people who posed for selfies and group photos. But how was that even possible? To be honest, part of me wondered, Were those people just not paying attention? I mean, it’s a freaking train, right? And trains are loud. When a train roars past me it’s usually too loud to talk; I have to cover my ears. It seems impossible for a train to “sneak up” on me.

Yet the statistics don’t lie. In

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