A generation of "Cotton Wool Kids"

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, how many of the posters who are advoacting keeping kids in grew up playing outdoors themselves?

I did when I wanted and then as I got older I found things like music and that kept me in. I don't stop mine going out, they just dont go on their own, end of. The street I live on is just too busy, but we go to the park with their friends, the are involved in school clubs.

Hope that answers your question, but do you have them that you can say you'd let them roam the streets?

when I think of some of some of the "playing" outside that I did in the 80's, I'm surprised I'm still alive.

RachaelVO wrote: »

I did when I wanted and then as I got older I found things like music and that kept me in. I don't stop mine going out, they just dont go on their own, end of. The street I live on is just too busy, but we go to the park with their friends, the are involved in school clubs.

Hope that answers your question, but do you have them that you can say you'd let them roam the streets?

Depends on the age. I agree with a previous poster who said she spuervised her kid at 6; but I personally wouldn't do it when they were about 10. I'd make sure my 10 year old had street sense to look after himself.

It's interesting, compared to berlin, where it's not unsual to see kids of 8/9 coming home from school on the u-bahn on their own.

Frank Black wrote: »

Your Mum sounds like a weirdo.

And why's that?

Frank Black wrote: »

The assumption that someone is possibly a paedophile despite the near stastical certainty that they're not.

Was she a Daliy Mail reader?

It's more a case of the chances of someone being a pedohphile now being pretty much the same as 30 odd years ago.

There's also the genuine concern of extra traffic and other environmental changes, but at some point you just have to teach them and trust them.

listermint wrote: »

I mean its absolutely ridiculous and insane to go through all the permutations of what could go wrong in your childs life. If you spent your time doing that then you would lose the plot.

And this is exactly what has happened to an absolutely ridiculous number of parents.
Even if you take the playground in the People's Park, Sandycove/Dun Laoghaire, it's been completely dumbed down in recent years. It's gone from being a playground for tweens to a playground for toddlers and infants - swings are lower, fireman's pole is gone, monkey bars seem to be gone, etc.

Why is this? Probably because the county council are all too well aware that if any kid kets the tiniest scrape in the place, the council will be sued on personal injury grounds for a five figure payout.

Even in the 13 or so years since I was a kid, the world has changed so much. Half the things I used to do as a kid would almost definitely be off limits now. You could see it back then - there were always the one or two friends you'd feel sorry for in your class because their parents wouldn't sign the form for them to come on a canoeing day trip or go to Clara Lara, but soon I reckon those trips probably won't even exist because those few kids with the hyper paranoid, over protective parents have gone from being the one or two unfortunate cases to the absolute vast majority.

It's sad.

Frank Black wrote: »

The assumption that someone is possibly a paedophile despite the near stastical certainty that they're not.

Was she a Daliy Mail reader?

There was no hysteria involved. If she was a hysterical Daily Mail reader, she would have insisted on sitting in on the piano lesson, or made sure it was a female teacher (not saying women don't abuse kids, just that this is the generalisation).

I'm pretty sure if more parents educated their kids about what is possible in the world, there'd be far fewer cases of "The man told me I'd get in trouble if I told my parents, so I never did. I hid it from them for years, and it kept happening". I don't mean take away children's innocence and purity and scare the living daylights out of them! She never went into graphic detail, simply said "If you feel uncomfortable, tell me". My mother never treated anyone with open suspicion, she never stopped us going to houses, doing sports, parties, overnight trips. Any warnings were given in a calm way, to educate us rather than put fear in us. We had our freedom. And I'll be doing the same with my own kids in the future.

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

And this is exactly what has happened to an absolutely ridiculous number of parents.
Even if you take the playground in the People's Park, Sandycove/Dun Laoghaire, it's been completely dumbed down in recent years. It's gone from being a playground for tweens to a playground for toddlers and infants - swings are lower, fireman's pole is gone, monkey bars seem to be gone, etc.

Why is this? Probably because the county council are all too well aware that if any kid kets the tiniest scrape in the place, the council will be sued on personal injury grounds for a five figure payout.

Even in the 13 or so years since I was a kid, the world has changed so much. Half the things I used to do as a kid would almost definitely be off limits now. You could see it back then - there were always the one or two friends you'd feel sorry for in your class because their parents wouldn't sign the form for them to come on a canoeing day trip or go to Clara Lara, but soon I reckon those trips probably won't even exist because those few kids with the hyper paranoid, over protective parents have gone from being the one or two unfortunate cases to the absolute vast majority.

It's sad.

Yes I worry about what is going to happen to my child. If I didn't, then I would be a bad parent. We're not talking scraps on the knees or even a broken bone. We're talking abduction/death. It's putting my child in a position for this to be possible is where it gets hard. I take my child to Clara Lara myself. Ensure that they get to climb and tree and look for worms in the mud. I like to see them dirty because its shows they've had fun.

Yes there is the same amount of danger out there but with the advancing age of technology, it can be easier for a pedophile to access information about you and your child (April Jones, being one example as he stalked her sister Facebook account)

As I said, it's all about balance. That's for the scouts idea whoever made the suggestion. Never thought of it myself