Children are patrolled and monitored as never before
Children are patrolled and monitored as never before
A smoked-glass 4x4 - one of those armoured personnel carriers of the suburbs - pulls up beside the pavement.
A smoked-glass 4x4 - one of those armoured personnel carriers of the suburbs - pulls up beside the pavement.
The car door swings open and a young passenger scurries out, holding some kind of document, rushing to push a doorbell before disappearing inside. The driver texts back to say the drop-off is complete.
The car door swings open and a young passenger scurries out, holding some kind of document, rushing to push a doorbell before disappearing inside. The driver texts back to say the drop-off is complete.
Yes, it's an eight-year-old being taken to her piano lesson.
Yes, it's an eight-year-old being taken to her piano lesson.
We live in strange times for parents. Even though we know rationally that there isn't a childsnatcher hiding behind every recycling bin, we behave as if threats are all around us, waiting for us to drop our guard.
We live in strange times for parents. Even though we know rationally that there isn't a childsnatcher hiding behind every recycling bin, we behave as if threats are all around us, waiting for us to drop our guard.
Walking to school alone? Playing in the streets? Crossing the city unaccompanied? Are you crazy? Don't you know the dangers out there?
Walking to school alone? Playing in the streets? Crossing the city unaccompanied? Are you crazy? Don't you know the dangers out there?
Free to roam
Free to roam
A report from the Children's Society warns that parents' fears about safety are stopping children from playing outdoors unsupervised.
A report from the Children's Society warns that parents' fears about safety are stopping children from playing outdoors unsupervised.
"You're not riding that bike outside."
"You're not riding that bike outside."
And it shows how today's parents are not giving their children the freedom to roam that they enjoyed in their own childhoods in the 1970s.
And it shows how today's parents are not giving their children the freedom to roam that they enjoyed in their own childhoods in the 1970s.
Why are we such paranoid parents? Why do I worry at the idea of my uber-competent 10-year-old daughter walking on her own to school - when I was making my own way to school at a younger age?
Why are we such paranoid parents? Why do I worry at the idea of my uber-competent 10-year-old daughter walking on her own to school - when I was making my own way to school at a younger age?
Maybe it's because we live in a society that is drip-fed insecurity.
Maybe it's because we live in a society that is drip-fed insecurity.
From the first car alarm of the morning, to the last police siren at night, we know much too much about the threats around us.
From the first car alarm of the morning, to the last police siren at night, we know much too much about the threats around us.
Stranger danger
Stranger danger
Terrorism, ill-health, bad food, debt, global warming, moody loners with handguns are all out there waiting for us. Terrible stories, played through 24-hours news, seem more like the norm than the exception.
Terrorism, ill-health, bad food, debt, global warming, moody loners with handguns are all out there waiting for us. Terrible stories, played through 24-hours news, seem more like the norm than the exception.
Text messages are a parental tracking system
Text messages are a parental tracking system
Jobs aren't safe, relationships aren't safe, our fashion sense is on an at-risk register.
Jobs aren't safe, relationships aren't safe, our fashion sense is on an at-risk register.
And because we care most about our children, we worry most about them.
And because we care most about our children, we worry most about them.
This spills over into the rest of their young lives. When you watch a school party being taken on a taken a trip, it's like a high-security prison operation, with children wearing bar-coded tags and prevented from anything more dangerous than forming a crocodile.
This spills over into the rest of their young lives. When you watch a school party being taken on a taken a trip, it's like a high-security prison operation, with children wearing bar-coded tags and prevented from anything more dangerous than forming a crocodile.
Children are hitting puberty before they've even crossed a road on their own. Exaggeration? A sixth of girls are reaching puberty by the age of eight - how many of these are still being taken across a road by their parents?
Children are hitting puberty before they've even crossed a road on their own. Exaggeration? A sixth of girls are reaching puberty by the age of eight - how many of these are still being taken across a road by their parents?
Of course there are real worries - like traffic. There are 80 people injured by hit and run drivers every single week in London.
Of course there are real worries - like traffic. There are 80 people injured by hit and run drivers every single week in London.
And in terms of children going missing, the Madeleine McCann story strikes a chord with every parent.
And in terms of children going missing, the Madeleine McCann story strikes a chord with every parent.
Fear of the unknown
Fear of the unknown
But what's changed? What makes our generation of parents too fearful to let our children play a few streets away?
But what's changed? What makes our generation of parents too fearful to let our children play a few streets away?
The 1970s... more innocent, safer, healthier times
The 1970s... more innocent, safer, healthier times
Maybe it's because the fear of the unknown now begins on our own doorsteps. We might know a lot about the security situation in Iraq and the mood swings of the dollar - but do we know who lives in our street?
Maybe it's because the fear of the unknown now begins on our own doorsteps. We might know a lot about the security situation in Iraq and the mood swings of the dollar - but do we know who lives in our street?
Do we feel confident about the unknown territory between the front door and the school? If not, we try to patrol children's movements - and as they get older, you get the text-message mothers who use the mobile as a kind of parental tagging device.
Do we feel confident about the unknown territory between the front door and the school? If not, we try to patrol children's movements - and as they get older, you get the text-message mothers who use the mobile as a kind of parental tagging device.
Also as parents, we're guilty of creating the times we condemn. We get angry and not-in-my-dayish when young children use the sexual language they've heard in the programmes we've watched with them.
Also as parents, we're guilty of creating the times we condemn. We get angry and not-in-my-dayish when young children use the sexual language they've heard in the programmes we've watched with them.
We moan about children being unfit and then stop them going out to play. Instead they can stay inside and watch DVDs about other children having adventures.
We moan about children being unfit and then stop them going out to play. Instead they can stay inside and watch DVDs about other children having adventures.
How about Swallows and Amazons, good wholesome children's yarn. Bunch of kids get in a sailing boat on their own, not a lifejacket between them, live rough on an island, hanging out with the unattached uncle of another bunch of feral kids...
How about Swallows and Amazons, good wholesome children's yarn. Bunch of kids get in a sailing boat on their own, not a lifejacket between them, live rough on an island, hanging out with the unattached uncle of another bunch of feral kids...
Hold on, where's that remote control?
Hold on, where's that remote control?
Add your comments on this story, using the form below.
Add your comments on this story, using the form below.
As the mother of a 13 year old boy and a 10 year old girl I find being a parent in this day and age the hardest job in the world. You keep them in to make sure they are safe and not getting into trouble, we also don't know who lives in our streets as we did when I was growing up and everybody knew everybody else. If we keep them in we are accused of bringing up a nation of obese kids we just can't win! You are damned if you do and damned if you don't!!Mrs Roberta Ryan, Wombourne, Wolverhampton
Our daughter went to the shops and fell and grazed her leg. A security guard put a plaster on the cut for her. My wife has now reported the security guard as a 'suspected paedophile' to the police, for touching our daughter's grazed leg. I am absolutely in the dog-house for letting my child walk the 100 yards on her own (she's 11). The missus also wants me to spend 30K on a huge 4 by 4 so if we crash 'Only they risk getting hurt, we'll just roll over them'. Depressing .. but if I disagree I'm the irresponsible one ..Dave, London
How true it is. We have to do a risk assessment before we can walk children to the parish church.I know this sort of legislation has come about because of a few irresponsible people in the past (and our litigious society) but a sense of proportion is required.Surrey teacher, Shepperton, England
I agree 100% we do not let our children have the same kind of independence that we enjoyed when we were children. And yes Madeleine's disappearence has made me, as a mother, more paranoid. I do not allow my 9 year old twins to go to their den which is just behind the back garden. And I always justify when questioned by them how precious they are to me, and how difficult it was for me to have them. I am guilty of not letting them develop the skills that they would need as adults because they are always under my scrutiny while playing outside.I live in one of the safest estates. Each time I convince myself it would probably be safe to let them play in the town centre park you hear about a murder there.J Kapoor, Bolton
It's traffic more than anything else. Everyone has a car and everyone drives everywhere - most children have to cross a road to go and play or to visit friends - the road may be the only place they can play. Thank God I grew up in cul-de-sac when most cars were so poorly built their owners spent most of the weekends underneath them rather than hurtling to the hypermarket.Paul, Northumberland
The first day I sent my 6 year old son to school on his own (it's less than a mile, with no major roads, and a well used route by many other pupils from his own school and others) I was phoned by th school and told it was not allowed. The next time I did so, I was informed that I MUST send him in a taxi next time I was unable to accompany him. Despite long argumnts about comparitive risks of walking with 100s of other children/parents vs sending him in an unknown car, with an unknown driver, on his own, I have not yet managed to make the school budge on this.Keren, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset
I believe the threat is real, there are more lunatics out there... so my kids hike with me, go places with me, and are pampered by me... but I can still teach them how to live alone, how to cope... and at least they will be alive to do it.Chris, Blackpool
