I’m visiting my husband’s family in Latin America. I’ve lived here for extended periods when I was younger, I’m fluent in the language and I think I’ve made a lot of compromises during each visit (like staying with the in-laws for long periods..!)
As I’ve gotten older and more safety conscious, I’ve become increasingly anxious about the very lax attitude to road safety here. There’s a lot of pressure to go with the flow from his extended family, like adults won’t put on seatbelts even if you ask them to and it’s seen as ok to have more passengers than there are seats.
On one level, I think ‘it’s your life, not mine’, but that’s not entirely true. A passenger behind me without a seatbelt is a projectile that can also kill me. And if I’m not willing to have my own future children ride like that, I can’t be a hypocrite and turn a blind eye when it’s my nieces, right?
Has anyone else - with experience in developing countries or large families with different cultural practices - successfully stuck to their principles in a similar situation?