When did parents get so scared?(bostonglobe.com)
bostonglobe.com
When did parents get so scared?
http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/08/26/when-did-parents-get-scared/dEsGOllSt3zhFPfy1iOzKI/story.html
4 comments
I am sure it was a slow change that we hardly noticed. I think a couple things contributed to this mentality (there are plenty of others): 1) The tragic death of Adam Walsh became national news and spawned his father's advocacy for victims of crime. That spawned "America's Most Wanted"; a show that convinced viewers that each person wearing a sleeveless undershirt was a criminal. Faces of missing people appeared on milk cartons. No one wanted their child to be next. 2) Cable TV news needs to fill up 24 hours a day, so it breathes fear into us with each story so we don't dare change the channel.
Or not...
Or not...
I wonder how much it is related to the fact that we hardly know the people around us. I don't know my neighbors. I've heard that's a new phenomenon. We, the adults, might not even step out of our bubbles as much these days, much less allowing our children to do so.
I wonder if this is a big part of it, I know all my neighbors on a "Hi, how are you?" basis, and some better than that. We all know each others kids, and we all look out for each other. One of the reasons I chose the house I did was so that our kids could walk to the park without crossing any busy streets.
I think you have to be intentional about it though. We walk our dog and say Hi to everyone we pass.
I think you have to be intentional about it though. We walk our dog and say Hi to everyone we pass.
"With more first-time parents than ever older than 35..."
I would gess this probably has a larger subconscious impact than societal drivers, I wonder if any studies on this have been done
I would gess this probably has a larger subconscious impact than societal drivers, I wonder if any studies on this have been done
I don't let them play in the front yard because I don't want to deal with the possibility of someone calling the cops after seeing my kids in the front yard that will lead to a government employee with more power than their agency is supposed to have showing up to threaten taking my kids away from me for playing in the front yard.