re: "...Can someone please tell me why , Why... do parents feel it is safer to take their unequiped car to go retrieve their kids instead of....?"

Because they believed the advertising hype about their FWD and electronic do-dads (and failing to read the fine print in the commercial about professional driver on a closed course, snow tires, etc.) -- the big SUVs with summer tires are usually the worst, until they crack up or flip over, tying up the highway for everyone else. At least they believed it until they felt their multi-$10K car or truck skidding and sliding down the hill into oblivion.

FWD or AWD/4WD and electronics cannot basic laws of physics -- if you don't have traction, you're not going to control the car! Not like my 240s, each with four studded, Nokian snow tires, 1/3 worn Hakka-2s on my '93 and brand new Hakka-5s on my '84. I'm really looking forward to an interesting winter here at home -- in past years it's been dull around here, and I only got to enjoy the snow tires on our trips through New England for snow recreation.

Enjoy.