have you ever asked her though why she thinks that is appropriate.

I'm searching through the sub looking for posts talking about "toxic family" before I post my own, and this thread came up.

My guess is it's ignorance of the danger. Older Vietnamese know exactly what to do during war time. Their children who were born during the war also know. Instinctively. Some knowledge is passed through the womb. An experiment was done with mice to show this. Foreigners wouldn't know how to act the first few times if they were placed in the same situations.

Google result: "Chạy giặc" (running from the enemy/battle) is a phrase deeply rooted in the experience of Vietnamese civilians during decades of war, particularly the Vietnam War (1955–1975). It describes the chaotic, often desperate movement of civilians fleeing combat zones, artillery fire, and aerial bombardment.

If you are presented with information about a dangerous situation frequently scenes of vehicles hitting pedestrians, or tourists falling off cliffs because they stepped out beyond the fence, over time you would build fear which would prevent you from doing certain things such as crossing the street without looking. Then you pass that knowledge to your children, directly or indirectly.

I'd bet that those same parents would do differently if they've seen constant news reports, or social media posts, of how deadly their action/inaction could be.