Last night we met friends in the pub and were talking about the ongoing conundrum that surrounds the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Our friends have a six year old daughter (going on 26) and they are going out to Portugal to stay with a relative who lives very close to Praia de Luz.
Well, what do you do? Chain your daughter to your side? That’s what I’d do. Not let her out of your sight for a moment – yup. Become utterly paranoid? Definitely. So where do you draw the line? Does everyone henceforth become frantic if they can’t see their child for 5 seconds? And what is going to be the knock on effect on the children?
How do you explain to a child that when you’re out walking the dog you say hello to strangers and chat, but when they don’t have a dog you avoid strangers? Then again, people are usually abducted by people they know, which negates the don’t talk to strangers argument.
I used to walk to school and walk home again, alone. The walk must have taken me about 15 or 20 minutes. This seems unthinkable now. I would have been taken from my parents by Social Services, citing neglect. What is the world coming to? And what is the alternative?
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6 comments:
I'm not sure there is an alternative FP. I was brought up in the countryside and was allowed to roam freely amongst the fields surrounding the house(although, admittedly, if my mother ever realised what we got up to...). The world seems to be spiralling downwards, or at least that's what the news reporters would have us believe: bad news sells, therefore we don't hear much about the good!
Yes but what alternative?!
It's a tragedy what happened to Madeleine, but I think kidnapping has been around for a long time - I was approached by a man once as a child right after a little boy disappeared. I think the media blows things out of proportion and make people paranoid. Although I think we should be cautious, I don't think it's healthy to live in fear. All we can do is our best and trust human nature.
Nice to meet you, btw. Love your blog!
I quite agree, Nienke - the media do blow everything out of proportion and interesting that this topic was headline news on the BBC this morning - that parents are mollycoddling their children too much.
Thanks for the comments re the blog!
FP
I quite agree, Nienke - the media do blow everything out of proportion and interesting that this topic was headline news on the BBC this morning - that parents are mollycoddling their children too much.
Thanks for the comments re the blog!
FP
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