Ummmmm....

[Blaze]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/blog/talking_politics/article/26900/

[barbarella68]

Totally agree with him.I know parents who won't let their 11 year old son ride a bike incase he falls off,he doesn't even know how to ride a bike.All he does is play on games because it's safer.:(

[breezy]

so sadly very true, although i do struggle not to be an overprotective parent:blush:

[Pipsqueak]

so so true for a lot of it. I am probably quite an easy going parent and I let my kids out to 'roam wild' as one of my sons friends mums called it (they don't for the record - I know where they are, who they are with and we have rules etc).

Of course I worry about my kids - very much so but I try to give them the sort of childhood I had - free to make my own mistakes, free to bust my ankle after being told countless times not to do something, free to take (informed) risks etc etc.

A small glimmer of spoken sense beginning to show through at long last????

[flora]

I think I must be rare breed, I cannot think of anything worse than wrapping kids up in cotton wool.

I try and leave H alot to his own devices. H roams alot, walks to the bus on his own, bikes to and from his friends, and he is 12. He is the ONLY one in his peer group who does this.

All the others get parents to ferry them all over and do everything for them.How they are ever suposed to learn I don't know:panic:

[cher25]

My mam is and alway's a major worrier. But she didn't stop us having a childhood where we were free to climb trees and go off on our bikes. So long as we weren't too far away that we wouldnt hear her if shouted on.
Kids are growing up far too quickly these day's and isn't fair. I hate seeing 5 year olds who act like they are 10. :(

[TheBTeam]

My son is 10 1/2 and in year 5 at school, we have just started to allow him out to meet friends and go to the park and walk to meet friends a few streets away to play football or to ride his bike. He has his phone and we expect him to let us know if he changes where he is going etc and we call him if we haven't heard or seen them for a while.

I really worry while he is not with us, but i have no choice really to try and let him learn about being out and about, it is only just over a year when he will have to deal with going to school and back on his own. I know that i could ferry him about and not let him out now, but i then worry that i am just delaying the day where he has to learn to be streetwise and i can not constantly be part of everything he does as he gets older.

I know from my own experience and of my friends that those who were contained far longer than me rebelled and behaved far worse than i ever did for far longer than i ever did! I am hoping that he is sensible enough and that he has enough respect to get through what i will find difficult years for him!

[Hebs]

Well i was sexually abused as a kid, and i certainly do not wrap my kids up in cotton wool as i know the risks lie far closer to home :thumbsup:

my son is 9, he plays out with his friends, and in summer only usually comes home to be fed :laughing: he climbs tree, gets mucky, he is enjoying his childhood :thumbsup:

in the winter months they do play in on computer games :)

[ORKSIE]

I am a worrier,not that my kids will hurt themselfs....I worry that others will hurt them.
I worry when my DD dosnt answer her phone when she out and stuff like that.
I have probably got an over active imagination.

[flora]

I am a worrier,not that my kids will hurt themselfs....I worry that others will hurt them.
I worry when my DD dosnt answer her phone when she out and stuff like that.
I have probably got an over active imagination.


Probably but I think thats normal for most mums :thumbsup:

I let my imagination run wild and have to take a deep breath and let him go anyway.
Danger is everywhere, you just have to teach them how to asess the risks and how to handle it :thumbsup:

[ORKSIE]

Probably but I think thats normal for most mums :thumbsup:

I let my imagination run wild and have to take a deep breath and let him go anyway.
Danger is everywhere, you just have to teach them how to asess the risks and how to handle it :thumbsup:

Yep I agree:thumbsup: