It happened on the last lap of a race at Daytona International Speedway: a horrifying 12-car pileup that sent chunks of debris flying into the grandstands. 16-year-old Tyler Anderson said of the crash, “I looked over and saw a hole in the fence, and looked behind me and saw a tire, a man under a tire and there were people screaming where’s my kid.”

Anderson, who was sitting in row 8, captured the moment of impact with his iPhone. In the video, you can see the tire that sailed into the crowd and landed on a man. You can see the people surrounding the injured and calling for help.

Thirty-three bystanders were hurt that day, with people being treated onsite and carried out on stretchers. A concessions worker said the crash sounded like an “earthquake,” and that she saw people running and crying and a girl completely covered in engine oil.

The fencing did the job it was intended to do, which was to keep the majority of the wreck on the track. Still, spectators near the collision were sprayed with pieces of that smashed vehicle, and when you see footage of the impact, it seems almost miraculous that no one died at the scene.

Injuries at car race events aren’t entirely uncommon. Three fans were kill in 1998 at an IndyCar race when a tire and other parts flew into the stands. Seven people were injured during a 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup race from crash debris. In 2010, a woman was killed by a tire that bounced off a dragster at a National Hot Rod Association event.

Then again, it’s estimated that the average American has a 30 percent chance of being involved in a serious car accident in their lifetime. In other words, it’s WAY more likely that you’ll get injured driving to the grocery store than having a tire land on your head during a NASCAR race. So why does a racing event suddenly seem like something I’d never, ever take my kids to?

Our family isn’t wild about car racing, so it really wasn’t likely that was something we were going to make into a family activity any time soon. But if I suddenly had the opportunity, I don’t think I’d do it. Or at the very least, I’d want my kids in the highest rows away from the track.

As a parent, it isn’t useful to be paranoid of freak accidents happening. I’m reminded of the time I read an article about a toddler being killed on a beach when a log somehow became dislodged in the sand and rolled over him, and the comments section had a woman saying that this was why she never took her own toddler to the ocean. “The beach is just too dangerous,” she wrote, and I thought, really? What a fearful, cramped life she must have.

And yet I can’t help mentally crossing NASCAR races off my personal list of Risks I’m Willing to Expose My Kids To. Even though I drive them to the grocery store several times a week without a second thought.

What’s your take on the NASCAR accident? Would you take your kids to a racing event?

Image via Nascar

Confession: I thought the Audi Super Bowl commercial with the high school kid kissing the prom queen was adorable. I thought everything about it was charming, from the boy’s younger sister who deflates his mom’s encouragement that don’t worry, honey, lots of people go by themselves to prom (cue Ms. Thang with the pigtails: “No they don’t”), to the utterly delighted grin on his black-eye’d face as he drives back home.

I was pretty much downright shocked to learn that many people not only didn’t find it even remotely cute or funny, they felt the ad promoted sexual assault.

For instance, as this article from Wired puts it,

The message is: gain confidence, forcibly kiss a girl, it will feel good, and she will like it. (…)  this is a dangerous message, (that) unwanted sexual contact is cool. There’s a reason the term “rape culture” exists, the theory that a culture sends messages that it’s okay to force oneself on a woman.

The Audi spot is just one of the commercials that upset parents during the Super Bowl. Go Daddy, as always, is under fire for being sexist and overly provocative. The Calvin Klein “Concept” underwear ad was described by many as too revealing. Kate Upton’s Mercedes Benz “Car Wash” spot was criticized by the Parent’s Television Council, who state that the ad “isn’t selling cars, it’s selling sexual objectification.”

Not only that, but Beyonce’s halftime show wasn’t exactly controversy-free. One commenter says the performance was inappropriate for what should have been a PG-rated event:

A lot of viewers expressed comments on other sites saying they were disgusted with Beyonce’s adult entertainment of booty grinding for what should be a FAMILY football game. It was not appropriate at all. She’s talented but save that sort of dancing for her adult concerts.

The director of communications for the Parents Publishing Council also spoke out about Beyonce’s show:

Here’s Beyonce, who has such a powerful voice, and yet she falls back on sex appeal so often. I know that a lot of people were disappointed in the halftime show, that it was too sexual for a family event.

The thing is, I guess I don’t really think of the Super Bowl as being a particularly kid-friendly television event. I know entire families tune in for the game, but the fact remains that the biggest sporting event of the year comes with the biggest televised ads of the year (to the tune of a jaw-dropping $4 million for 30 seconds this year!), and those ads are aimed at adults. Ditto the halftime show: it’s not currently intended to please the 12-and-under crowd, and it never has been.

There’s a completely valid discussion to be had about media influence and social issues, but the fact remains that we don’t all agree on the same values. I don’t personally feel that the Audi ad was offensive for me OR my kids to see, and that doesn’t make me a bad person who endorses rape. It makes me a mom whose opinions are her own. How can we possibly come up with a set of standards that will result in commercials that don’t offend a single viewer?

I don’t think it’s possible, nor do I think it’s reasonable to expect that an event like the Super Bowl is going to be completely devoid of stereotypes we don’t want our children to emulate. Hell, even football itself is becoming a wildly controversial topic among parents lately, with the emerging correlation between football-related head injuries and permanent brain damage.

Personally, I think it’s far more important to talk about our individual values at home rather than try and mold media messages to match our beliefs. While the Parents Publishing Council thinks some might be getting to a point where watching the Super Bowl as a family is no longer an option for some families, they add,

If you have older kids in the house and you want to be able to share the experience … they’re going to be more influenced by what mom and dad say than what they see on TV, ultimately. If you turn these moments into a chance to build on values, you can mitigate the negative effects of these advertisements.

Exactly. As parents, it’s our job to address these issues at home, and a good start might be to talk to your kids about how you feel about a certain ad. Or, if you prefer your kids not to see this stuff altogether … well, maybe turn off the TV when the ads — or Beyonce — makes an appearance.

What did you think about the Super Bowl ads and halftime show this year? Were you upset by anything your kids saw?