Are we overprotecting our kids?
All I see is fear and scaremongering. Is it time for us to take a reality check? We aren’t allowed to video our kids at the school play, we can’t take pictures at the swimming pool or at the soft play, we have to sign a disclaimer allowing photos at nursery, and every man is a potential paedophile.
I’m beginning to really worry where all this will end. The subject of protection is in the news again as a new law comes into practice demanding police checks for volunteers and parents in contact with youths. This goes beyond the current law of teachers, clasroom assistants and scout/guide leaders requiring checks. This extends to the mini bus drivers, any parent that offers to help out at a youth club or at the kids football coaching, private tutors and more.
The concern of many is that this will drive people away from volunteering, especially parents, I mean who really wants to go through the rigamerole of police checks? We’ll end up with many clubs and activities disappearing, and that’s pretty sad.
There’s no doubt that we are moving to a point where everyone who chooses to be around children is guity until proven innocent. Jeremy Vine from BBC Radio 2 put it to his audience that some people believe that if even one child is saved from an ordeal then surely it’s worth it. As a mother and someone with firsthand experience of what we’re talking about here I would say no, it’s not worth it. It’s not worth our children missing out on sport and social activities ‘just in case’ something happens, it’s the old if you’re afraid of dying then you’d never step outside your front door and consequently would never live. The truth is that abuse very rarely takes place with a stranger (it’s usually a family member or ‘friend’ of the family), and is even more unlikely to happen in a minibus on the way to a football match or at a guide camp, it happens, just not that often, and on balance it’s a risk I’m willing to take. Bad things happen and no amount of legislation will stop it.
At what point do we draw the line in the sand and say that we’re willing to take the miniscule risk for the greater good of all our children?
I've been blogging for four years and write about anything and everything that takes my fancy.
Above is me with my beloved Ernie in Port Aventura and left with our love child in Florida.
Themocracy
At a time when visiting children’s authors are asked to have a CRB check when they are invited to give a talk, yes our children are being over protected. But it is not being done in my name. I had to have a CRB check to work with older children regularly each week in a journalism project – fair enough I suppose. But yeah ‘paranoid parenting’ is at an all time high. x
I just think it’s all gone too far now and it’s actually to the detriment of our children.
I completely agree, where will it end? I think the tendancy of the media to pounce on every horrific story, and the numerous ways in which people access the news (let’s face it, you have to try pretty hard to avoid it nowadays)we’re subjected to constant influx of negativity, which we can’t help but let affect our parenting, even subconsciously.
We have to maintain perspective; as you say these things are rare, no one ever comments on the nice things strangers do for people, perhaps if they did, we’d be less inclined to live in doubt? Keeping this glass half-full mentality the government seem to be perpetuating is only going to end up holding our children back and restricting the rich opportunities that life has to offer. I do worry how our children’s generation will shape up as adults given it all
Siobhan; That’s exactly how I feel, not all problems can be fixed by passing yet another law. Even a police check won’t stop the occasional ‘incident’.
We were talking about this at coffee on Friday. Think of all the money being made from these checks as well!
Great post!
I volunteered at a library shelving books and had to do a police check before I started. I didn’t mind because I tend to fall on the side of better safe than sorry where my kids are concerned.
You make a very good point, though, that most abuse happens with someone the child knows already. Combined with your point about activities disappearing, you’ve just about successfully argued me around to your point of view. I’ll have to think twice about my opinion on this.
Great news today that the government will be reviewing this now.
I ran a childcare centre for 2-5 year olds and employed two wonderful male educators, both married, one in his late 20′s and the other his 30′s. You would not believe how suspicious the families initially were about their presence in the centre. Fortunately, they soon proved themselves to all involved and it made such a difference to the children and the ‘team.’
Christie
Thanks for commenting Christie, it’s a shame that we feel we have to be so suspicious, I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be a man in this situation.