Well, I’m such a pointyheaded liberal you could hurt yourself on the sharp end, but I have to agree with the folks saying “calm down.”
Sure, that’s riskier behavior than correctly belted into the back seats of a sedan. But the pickup only has one passenger seat. Would it have been safer for mom to hold both kids on her lap? I doubt it.
I suppose the driver could have made three trips, one for each passenger, but then there would have to be someone at the destination to watch the kids until mom comes over on the last trip, or else it’s also a Child Protective Services situation…
Everybody has to go through life making risk assessments. Driving a pickup slowly and carefully with kids in child seats and an adult to watch them is probably far from the most dangerous situation kids have in their lives. You could make the case that drinking lots of soda pop kills kids much more surely than that, if a lot more slowly.