We keep children safe to let them run wild

Telegraph

British adults have become estranged from the world of children. Many of them, according to a survey released yesterday, would go so far as to admit that they are scared of youngsters.

About half of 2,021 grown-ups polled by YouGov for Barnardo's indicated that children should be regarded as dangerous; a majority of them went so far as to state that children behaved like animals.
. . .
At first sight, this perception of children does not make any sense. How can grown-ups possess such depressing attitudes towards youngsters when we are meant to be more "child centred" than ever before?

The truth is that the negative sentiments are the direct consequence of the mistrust and suspicion fuelled by the prevailing paranoid regime of child protection. It is our obsessively protective parenting culture that is responsible for the erosion of inter-generational relationships.

Technorati Tag: childfree