How much safety do children need?
In last weeks Sunday Times an article discussed modern parents fears for their children's safety and how that has restricted our children's freedom. Parents opposing society's "zero risk" attitude and requirement on childhood, and how this has provoked an uproar among the hovering "helicopter" parents with "cotton wool" children. Which to be fair, most of us are. The Schonrock family have been in the media spotlight for letting their five and eight year old children cycle one mile to school, on their own. There even have been threats of the couple being referred to the social services, after other parents at the children's school complained. "These days children live such regimented lives. They can do nothing unless it's planned. We are trying to let them enjoy their lives and teach them a little bit about the risks of life", said Oliver Schonrock in the Daily Mail in early June.
Sound enough, but Gillian Schonrock's comment on safety would put most parent's teeth on edge.
"[I am] confident that the benefits to our children far outweigh the potential risk from 'stranger danger', road traffic accidents and other factor", said the mother.
Most parents are at this stage thinking "...it only takes once". It really comes down to if we believe that the world is more dangerous now than in our childhood, and if we really can trust our children to manage?
Only time will show if most modern parent's need to hover over their children is going to be a benef
it for them or not. Other families mentioned in the article, believe in children having a "free range" childhood, to encourage and foster their children's sense of independence and self-reliance. Our overprotective parenting techniques are causing repercussions on our children's health, since most children do not walk to school or any activity they attend. We don't have time to supervise them outdoors, which means they are stranded indoors. And as author of the book Toxic Childhood, Sue Palmer, points out:
"If children are not given independence in a responsible way by parents who've trained up...their entire development is going to be threatened".
As always in these modern parents, there is no straight line to walk.
