Protecting Our Children

I think it was Thursday that I was talking, at work, to Jane and Donna, about protecting children.  I am a generation older than both of these ladies, but still they were concerned about our culture's tendency to over-protection of children.

In "my day" things were a little looser, but there were two big differences.  First, there were a whole lot more children.  Second, there were a whole lot more mothers in the neighborhood, so it was a lot tougher to avoid being "supervised."

But, still, sometime before I was 13, and probably closer to 10 or 11, I walked home with my buddies one afternoon from the movies in the City of Woodbury, NJ, down the tracks of the train from Philly to Atlantic City.  The distance we walked was a couple of miles.  I also remember being out on the railway trestle on that same line, but south of our town.  It must have been 50 or 75 feet in the air—and I don't like high places.

So, I found the article in the "G Section" of the 20 June 2009 edition of The Boston Globe interesting.  By Joanna Weiss, it is "What, Mom worry?" I thought it was a good discussion of risks faced by children, and their parents.  Ms Weiss' attention getter is the question of letting her "almost-5-year-old" alone on the front stoop while she ran back in the house to get a lunchbox.

Last week, Lenore Skenazy set me straight by asking me a question: How long would you have to leave your kid outside alone for it to be statistically likely that she gets kidnapped?

Answer: 750,000 years.

I know times have changed. We lived in a hotel in London for a few weeks in 1974.  We were just down from Speaker's Corner. We let our 13 year old Daughter take her two younger Brothers on the Tube to a movie. We had all been on the Tube and it wasn't a mystery.  And, we all felt safe in London.  Would I do it again, today.  Of course not, but my then Daughter is older now and less reliable. ☺

This is a family group decision, but I hope parents are brave enough to give their children a little space, when they can.  Kids should not have to learn about the world after they turn 18.

Regards  —  Cliff