Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
Yeah, I'm not saying child predators don't exist, I'm saying the actual danger to children is severely over-estimated by parents and the risk today is no greater than it was decades ago. There hasn't been any significant increase in the number of child abductions, but you wouldn't know it based on the way most modern parents guard their children so closely. The thought of giving kids free-reign to play unsupervised and out-of-sight for hours around the entire community (like people of my generation and older did as children) is completely unfathomable to today's helicopter parents.
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Yeah fair enough. I don't deny that, I actually agree somewhat, but you pick your spots. I also recklessly put myself in positions too, I walked home from school if my mom wasn't waiting outside the school for me... 1st week of school in kindergarten... my mom was not happy about that. So no need to be sorry about that, I don't know why you would be. I don't look back on it with any fear or anything, I don't think it scarred me in any way. I brushed it off my shoulder pretty easily without really giving it a second thought (maybe I should have?)
I think a lot of it has to do with accessibility to media. "Top story, breaking news on CNN that a child abductor is only a town away" or whatever. You are right that there was stuff then, but I also get why there are helicopter parents; I also get that parents are over-exhausted too. Is it a good reason? I don't know... I just don't think its fair to be judgemental. I'm mid-20's right now... in a decade, I could have kids, and I don't know where I would land? Hypothetically, my current girlfriend is a post-doc researcher and wants faculty position (i.e. professor)... she already puts in 80+ hrs a week. I'm about 50-60 hrs a week (ok 10-20hrs of that is CP)... I also have very little faith in society, so I could see myself being protective. On the other hand, both my girlfriend and I are climbers/alpinest/mountaineering/canyoneering and would love for our kid to be the next big rockstar climber... or coach a kids soccer team, that would be pretty awesome... ok this last paragraph really isn't relevent to anything.