Thank you Snout. You are quite correct in the likelihood of abduction - I have been having similar talks with my sister and brother-in-law - they agree that maybe they did overreact.

However, as a result of a fearful response to the negative hype the tabliod media thrives upon, a nine year boy missed out on a trip into the city with Grandma and lunch with his aunt. And left with a feeling that he is both vulnerable and untrustworthy. All because of his parents' fear.

For the record, I don't think kids are any worse today than back in my childhood. The children in my neighborhood are strong, independent kids. They treat me with a lot of respect. Only last Christmas, when I drove home from work, I pulled into my carpark and a group of six of my neighbours kids sang a christmas carol to me. Amazing.

But then I don't live in an ordinary suburban environment where houses fully dominate the block with no room for a garden or an area in which to run around. I live in the Dandenong Ranges, which means the kids have room to move, break bones, develop their immune systems and generally behave like kids. Like I used in the country town I spent my first 10 years.

If we continue overprotecting ourselves, building artificial environments and living in fear instead of in hope, then I am concerned at the long term effect on our children.

Kids are totally over protected today. Friends tell me they want their 16 year old girl to stay a little girl. Why? A little girl has to be the most vulnerable creature in society. We overprotect them and when they finally get to walk out the door by themselves they have absolutely no survival skills. It requires a great deal of effort to raise a well mannered, practical and thoughtful child. Most parents don't put in the time these days. Both work because they won't make the sacrifices our parents made - eg one car, occasional holidays and the discipline to not spend money they don't have. Don't knock the kids. It is the adults who are at fault for everything from rudeness to childhood obesity through sheer laziness.

Germ you are so right..it is up to parents to provide an enviroment conducive to the needs and the well being of their child..laziness and apathy have taken over in a lot of cases..Scout says that we are producing kids who dont trust their own judgement and self worth and she is absolutely right too.

I still say the freedom we had as kids served us mich better to cope as adults..we broke bones, made our own fun, no video games and entertainment laid on..we had to use our imagination if we were bored.

Yes we have come to look back on our past with slightly rose colored glasses but there was a lot of positive and great things about being kids back then..
Political correctness etc has a lot to answer for...now kids can divorce their parents etc for slight misdemeanours..forget child cruelty.. the pendulum has swung too far..

The exposure of child sexual abuse and cruelty is a critical change but there has to balance.

Interesting that there are so many women commenting on this thread. My perception is that a lot of the over-protection stems from a devaluation of what you might call "male" values that has led to a generation which appears to be more fearful than previous ones.

For example, I think we all now tend to view pain as something bad, whereas 40 years ago, when I was growing up, pain was something that boys used to value, and the ability to deal with it marked something of a passage into manhood.

Yet I'm sure I'm not the only modern father to have used the tough love approach to an injury and been reproached by other adults for not being more sympathetic to one of my kids.

Graham interesting point. I'd not thought of it in terms of physical pain. I think some of the same issues apply in terms of emotional pain. Some people seem to be pushing agenda's which insist kids feelings must never be hurt. I recently saw a article about some preschool staff being instructed not to say "no" or "don't" to children because it might stunt their development. http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20267446-5007190,00.html

The stunting will come from not teaching children the reality of no.

R0bert

We would not have seen this 50 years ago [yes, I'm well old enough to remember]:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1442/use_condoms/

OK, maybe a bit extreme, but somewhat less dramatic scenes like this take place regularly, when a child wants to stuff far too much harmful junk in its face and the parent [initially] says 'No'.

This is the way I see it. We learn not to touch fire because when we try it we feel physical pain. If touching fire gave us the equivalent of a minor, ineffectual rebuke, then we would learn nothing and many of us would eventually suffer for this lack of knowledge. Whether we believe in God, evolution or both, this concept is tried and true. It works! The same principle applies to other potentially irresponsible behaviour.

But parents aren't supposed to discipline their children anymore. And when too many of these undisciplined 'children' turn up in the Childrens' Court for committing adult crimes, then further 'slaps on the wrist' teach them that they can carry on seriously misbehaving and get away with it.