Cotton Wool Kids

[mccaugm]

Was horrified at the parents in this program. The kids were barely allowed over the door. One boy was 13 before his parents allowed him to travel to school on the bus for the first time.

If the children went out to play their kids were barely yards away. How are children supposed to learn independence if they cannot even escape their parents and their homes?

One parent was even investigating microchipping her children so she could track them when they were out and about. Thats scary.

My children were encouraged to play outside as soon as they were able to. My elder two now stay in and play computer games although they are encouraged to leave (permenantly - only joking). The youngest goes out at the drop of a hat....he loves playing outside. Yes there are concerns over dodgy characters and hurting themselves.

But these concerns were around when I was a child but my parents let me out and I am here to tell the tale. My sister and I took our bikes, without mobile phones and always showed up for dinner time.
My hubby walked to school which was about 1 -2 miles away, at four years old. (although even I think that was a little young). He also got plenty freedom and got up to mischief but hes OK for it.;)

[mums angels]

Oh no i wanted to watch that too ..do you know if its repeated?

had a disagreement recently with a realative about this subject , i was letting my 9 and half year old walk round the cornor to the shop(which is practically in view from my house) to pick up some bread and was told this was irresponsible :confused

I was out and about to shops,mates , clubs etc way before i was 9 i think that i'm probably a bit over protective if anything !! but you have to let them have independence at some point .

[karia]

The exchange between the wee lassies was magic.

Big gal: Mum says people might climb over the wall.

Wee gal: there are no steps!:roll:

Big gal: yeah but they can climb.

Wee gal: rolls eyes..and hisses with ill disguised contempt 'not without suction caps on their feet!

Interesting take on parental influence within a household.

And sardonic youngsters!;)

[golach]

But these concerns were around when I was a child but my parents let me out and I am here to tell the tale. My sister and I took our bikes, without mobile phones and always showed up for dinner time.
My hubby walked to school which was about 1 -2 miles away, at four years old. (although even I think that was a little young). He also got plenty freedom and got up to mischief but hes OK for it.;)
Mccagum, I too was brought up in an era, where we had to walk at least 2 miles to school and back every day, and we never stayed in weather permitting, as soon as the school clothes were off, we were out and away, and only appeared back at feeding times, to be asked "Where have you been?" standard answer "Nowhere", followed by "What have you been doing?" Answer "Nothing", funnily we were usually covered in muck and dirt and covered in scratches.........was there any worries from our parents? No none, ahh what idyllic times. Sadly no longer

[Anne x]

I walked almost a mile all the kids in our area called for each other no school run then
well maybe thats because no one had cars but as a community it worked
I do say the kids of today (sound like my mother ) are nice kids everyone is very protective and rightly so

Society has changed but one thing about back then all the nasties of that day Im sure went on behind closed doors so its a real good thing now its out in the open so maybe something has changed for the better
Parents are just more aware

chips something you eat or do to your dog ?
not for my Kids OMG

[Fluff]

Mums angel, I forgot to watch it too but I don't think it is repeated on the tv. But if you download 4oD you can watch it on your computer.

[justine]

What gets me is how do these parents put up with their kids under their feet all day.I love mine but i need that quiet time,when they do disappear out the have said time to be back.The youngest ones are to small at the mo to be going out playing but the back garden is there for them.
Parents like this need to get their own priorities sorted before banning their children from having a life, being safety conscious is one thing but they are taking the issue of keeping children safe to the limit...Makes you wonder if the have different agendas, why keep a child locked away from life????????

[SunnyChick]

This programme was trash, it was awful hearing parents scare the living poop out of their children about all the bad things which might happen to them.

Listening to the children talk about their fears which have been driven into them by incessant nagging parents made me quite sad.

I remember being a free, healthy and happy child, and I want the same for my kids.:)

Safety is paramount, and of course, I do everything I can to protect my kids, but I don't harp on to them about the bad man who could be waiting around the corner.

I just don't see how being over the top paranoid is going to help.

Yes, make sure your car seats are properly fitted, yes, keep a gate on your garden, but no, don't stop your kids playing out on their bikes with their friends. Lead by example and show your kids how to be sensible and safe, because one day they will be adults who have to look after themselves and their own welfare.

[TBH]

It's all a government plot to use fear to control the population. David Icke said so.:D

[badger]

I thought some of this amounted to child abuse. The little girl who went round her garden pointing out everything that was dangerous (prickly plants?), I was amazed she was even allowed into the garden and can't believe she could play happily with all those dangers to avoid. Almost worse were the children who had been told about Madeleine and filled with terrors about being taken away and all the awful things that might happen in far too much detail. Sensible precautions are one thing but I'm surprised those children can sleep at night.

That poor 13-year old boy with his obsessive father - he'll probably run away at the first opportunity.

How will these children ever cope with life? I think children up here are much safer from predators than further south - I remember being shocked when I moved up here to see children left outside shops in prams and pushchairs, something I hadn't seen for years - but this is taking things too far.

[Sapphire2803]

Well, my eldest (13) has to cycle over a mile every morning to catch the school bus.
The older two (13 & 11) quite often cycle into Keiss at the weekend if the weather is ok and they once walked from Keiss to Wick (Tesco) along the beach.
The one place I won't let them go without me is Auckengill beach, it's rocky and slippy and there's no mobile signal. If something did go wrong, it would take far too long to get help.

If you ask me where the kids are, quite often I can only point across the fields and say "over there somewhere". They come back scratched and filthy and quite often soaking because they've been playing in the burn. You can measure fun by the amount of mud, I think.

Send some of those parents round here for a few days, they'd keel over in horror!