Texting Parents- Alaska Style

I recently heard a news tidbit about distracted parents texting at the playground. Some experts feel that this (duh) distraction may actually increase playground injuries...
Of course we have this kind of silly parent here in Alaska too. I have seen plenty of them, looking at their little screens instead of the kids--liking a new kind of pickle relish on facebook or whatever people text about (how would I know??)

That aside, the most ridiculous example of a "texting parent" I have seen--was last fall at the Reindeer Farm-- out in the beautiful Matanuska Susitna Valley. They held a Halloween event, where kids get to go on hay rides, and pick pumpkins. (Although the pumpkin patch was "Alaskan"--i.e. grocery store pumpkins thrown about in a patch of dirt--have fun kiddies!) For the record: pumpkins grow in greenhouses in Alaska, so hence the fake patch.

But I regress...so we watched this young mom at the reindeer farm "parent while texting", couldn't help but watch, it was kind of shocking. She had a small toddler (maybe 2?) running around the reindeer area. Now, most folk in the "lower 48" have probably never experienced a "reindeer area". What this means, is that you are allowed into a big, muddy pen full of reindeer--which are really just sort of tame caribou. They are large, wild creatures with giant horns. They may or may not impale you. Anyway, this crazy mom kept texting on her  phone, totally not watching the toddler bump into, walk under, etc.. giant reindeer. My husband recoiled in horror as the child's face just missed a jagged antler, at which point the mom sort of looked up, yelled something--then proceeded to text once again.  I told myself, that quite possibly these were emergency texts, so I shouldn't judge. Yet, for the record, I totally feel an Alaskan playground (say a reindeer pen) should seriously be a text free zone!