Today was the first time I heard about America's Worst Mom, title given to the woman who allowed her 9 year old son ride NY subway by himself. You can read more about her here or simply Google America's Worst Mom. Basically what she says is that today's streets are safer than 30 years ago yet children are not allowed to do many of the things their parents were allowed at the same age. And she attributes this mainly to the fear mongering media.
I have been thinking about this ever since DD started walking. Lenore (America's Worst Mom) has all the facts straight, and statistically speaking children are lot more likely to be abducted/abused by a relative or a close family friend than by a stranger, in their own home, where parents relax their watchful eye. I see the logic behind what she says and wholeheartedly agree that freedom is very important to children. And I soooo much want to give to them as early and as much of it as I was given. However, emotionally I am incapable of letting go because if, God forbid, something happens, I will never forgive myself. No matter how statistically unlikely the worst case scenario is, I cannot ignore the "what if."
Overall, I find the topic extremely sad and depressing. What do you think?
When I was, 9? 10? Part of my class used to go take care of guinea pigs in this place where they had small animals, plants, science presentations, etc. The place was pretty far away and I think needed 2 buses to get to. One time, the teacher was sick or something so we decided to go by ourselves. Parents were pissed but since then we just went ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree, to think of all the things that can go wrong is extremely depressing. Nevertheless - Better safe then sorry. Oh an limit your news intake.
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