Comments (9)

By Little Mummy, September 12, 2009 2:13 pm

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?