I was touring Oregon Caves National Monument recently when I witnessed an interesting scene between a ranger and a guest – one which makes me wonder about the parameters of ranger authority.
Near the end of the tour is an optional side trip from the Ghost Room, up a swaying set of 92 steps, to the small but famous Paradise Lost formation of flowstones, which rise tier on tier toward the cave dome. A teen-age girl, apparently worried by the stairs, said she did not want to make the climb.
“You have to,” her mother said.
“No she does not,” the ranger said.
“I’m her mother, and I say she does,” the woman said.
“No she does not,” the ranger said, standing between the girl and her mother.
The ranger and the mother eyed each other for a moment, and then the mother headed up the steps without her daughter, who stayed below in the company of the ranger.
The incident raises interesting questions. Should a ranger countermand the authority of a parent? I think most of us would say “yes” if the parent were asking her child to do something illegal or patently dangerous. But the stair was not an out-and-out danger, just a fear that the parent may have wanted her child to face and master.
On the other hand, I think many of us can also sympathize with the ranger. The trip to Paradise Lost is clearly called optional, and the stairs can be intimidating. Certainly the ranger did not want to have to rescue the child, frozen by fear halfway up the steps.
I’d like to read what the readers think – if not about this incident specifically, then about the position of rangers in general when it comes to parents and children. Maybe some others of you have witnessed similar incidents where the commands of one authority have come into conflict with the other.
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Comments
I think he was within his rights and responsibility. It's not only the safety of the teen but that of other people who could be on the steps.
I read the part about "worried by the stairs" which I interpreted as fear.
I took a tour at Oregon Caves this spring. When I saw those stairs and heard they were completely optional, I heaved a sigh of relief. As a person scared of heights, I have been in situations where people tried to get me to "face my fear". It didn't work, the fear is still with me. No one should ever be forced or coerced up those steps. They're skinny, metal stairs and any emergency that happened there could be very difficult to deal with.
This is rediculous. So a ranger who has never met this family knows what is best for the child? This is all about a ranger who felt a little power. He should be fired. If the ranger was truly concerned about the child's safety, he could have asked to speak with the parent privately and asked a few questions, explained the dangers, discussed past experiences, etc. It is infuriating to think a ranger feels the right to interupt a private conversation.
The ranger should have used a little more tact. I can certainly understand why they wouldn't want someone to climb who didn't want to, but a better explanation of why they felt the teen shouldn't climb would have made a difficult confrontation a little less tense.
Good for the ranger. As a victim of years of physical abuse by my mother when I was growing up, I learned that merely giving birth does not make you a mother. Ninety-something swaying steps could induce fear in anybody, particularly a vulnerable teenager. I reported a woman who was beating the crap out of her little girl in a van outside an ER room. Yes, she gave birth to that child. No, she was not a mother. Abuse comes in many forms and forcing a child to do something that just sounds frightening--never mind how it looks in person--can be one form of that abuse. I would like to know what the girl said to the ranger, if anything--but at least he recognized her fear and protected her. I have a phobia about water. I can't swim because of it. Tossing me into a pool and making me learn it the hard way would not cure my phobia--it would merely enforce it.
It seems she had some type of hidden fear, from observation! There may be more! We all never know because we are not the Mother or more in case, the daughter! NPS is trained to recognized emotions & situations. I was several times in this situation as a teen, where my Mother forced me to do things. Later only to say that I was lazy! As Mother's we don't sometimes realize our child's (teen or not) fears, phobias, or insecurities. It was only when I was older did I tell my Mom about them. We may recognize some BUT not all. I say it was right for the Ranger to say she isn't obliged to go. It was tight spaced & maybe the Ranger recognized that she had some fear or insecurity of that optional trip. Whether to prevent a situation from happening. The Ranger stayed with the teen until the remainder of the group came back to tour.
*Here is a side not, if you whatsoever hit a child/teen on Federal land, is a Federal offense that carries a felony. Anyone in NPS' view sight, will be arrested! It's not within state where its a investigation & social services to visit!
I lived in a National Park there laws are more strict & different than state!
Go ranger! If the child was truly frightened, then she should not be forced to ascend the steps. If she was just rebelling against Mom, well, it will be her loss when she realizes what she missed out on. Either way, the ranger was right, though perhaps a bit more tact might have helped.
If I had of been the parent, I would have been having a discussion with the ranger's supervisor. The ranger had better not get between me and my child - the ranger had no clue what led up to the discussion or why the parent insisted and clearly stuck a nose where it DID NOT BELONG!