Are We Overprotective of our Kids?
by Natalie Beck
A new report out of the U.K. questions whether parents are too protective of their children in this day and age. The U.K. thinktank, Civitas, reports that there is now exists a “culture of suspicion” which deters people from working with children due to the possible appearance of impropriety.
I absolutely agree with Civitas’ notion that there exists this culture which makes us question the motives of others. Why? Because there is cause for it. On any given day you can peruse the Internet and find a multitude of stories about sex offenders, coaches, volunteers, bus drivers, teachers, and others who have committed unspeakable acts of violence against children (or you can just read our blog). If there were no cause for this suspicion, companies like ours would not exist.
At the conclusion of this article, there is an opportunity to post your thoughts on this story. I ran across a comment made by a father about an incident that occurred with his young daughter. Here’s his story:
“I have been stopped in the street because I picked up my youngest daughter, who had decided to cause a scene in town, and carried her over my shoulder to the car. A passer by assumed that I must be some evil child abducter, and I had to patiently explain to them, and the well meaning security guard they’d drafted in, that I was nothing of the sort. What’s bizarre is that whilst part of me was overcome with indignation, the other couldn’t help being impressed that they’d bothered to check…”
So even though someone butting their nose into your affairs feels a bit intrusive, take a minute to think about the big picture. If that was your kid, loved one, or employee, wouldn’t you want to know? Wouldn’t you NEED to know? Wouldn’t you be glad someone took the time to ask?
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