Categories: uncategorized
Date: 12 June 2008 13:06:40
There was a story on BBC Breakfast this morning regarding a reckless mother in New York, who just happens to be a journalist. Her "crime" is that she allowed her 9 year old son to find his way home from Bloomingdales department store on his own.
He had to catch the subway for three stops and then a bus for 6 stops, before arriving home. His parents had provided him with a map to assist him.
To many of this would be seen as an act of neglect. How could a parent allow their child to roam across a city alone? What about all the perverts out there, just waiting to snatch the child away? What about all the "odd" people who inhabit the New York transit system.
To others the mother is seen as a hero who stands up for "proper" parenting. What she did is allow her son to do something that he had actually requested of them. They didn't just cave in to his demands but consider his request for several weeks.
They had already allowed him to walk to and from school alone. This was the next logical stage.
Now I'm not a parent so I don't have to make such a decision myself. If I had to then I would allow a child of mine to play outside and to explore the neighbourhood. If I were confident of their abilities then an unaccompanied trip to town would not be a problem for me.
You see I know that there is not a pervert hidden behind every hedge. There are not knife wielding hoodies roaming our streets. Kids are over cossetted and wrongly derided by society. We are in danger of raising a generation that cannot look after itself.
I know that there are "perverts" out there; I also know that they are more often found in postions of trust, rather than roaming the streets in their cars picking up kids at random.
Somewhere in the last 20 years we seem to have lost our sense of comfort and security. People are more afraid of over hyped threats than the reality of life. As such we are losing the ability to allow children to grow up and find their own way in life.
History Today:
1667 : A Dutch fleet raids Chatham Dockyard, capture the Royal barge and humiliate the Royal Navy. Today we don't have a Royal barge and the Navy are quite capable of humiliating themselves wiythout outside assistance.
1701 : The Act of Settlement ensures a Protestant succession by passing the throne to Hanover.
1929 : Anne Frank is born
1964 : Nelson Mandela is jailed for life for trying to blow up the South African Parliament.
1980 : Billy Butlin, founder of the holiday camp, dies.