quote:The premise is that fear, in its proper place as an immediate warning mechanism, is highly valueable, and far less useful when people are "afraid" of possibilities rather than real situations.
There's an excellent chapter on questions to ask schools about safety policies and about parents trusting their intuition on matters of child safety. This allows parents to keep their children safer without smothering them through misplaced use of fear.
Sounds like a great resource. I also like the Pediatrics article's emphasis on training children in safety by emphasizing these techniques are normal developmental milestones (being able to say your name and address, knowing how to call home, knowing how to find "safer strangers" to ask for help, etc) rather than necessarily overlaid with paralyzing fear.
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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That would be tricky Dan. How did you explain it to him?
quote:Remember too that of course injury and assault will be high on the list of "causes of death" for children -- they are unlikely to die of anything else.
This is an excellent point, by the way. It can be too easy to miss facts like this, and misinterpret the data as a result.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Sounds like a great resource. I also like the Pediatrics article's emphasis on training children in safety by emphasizing these techniques are normal developmental milestones (being able to say your name and address, knowing how to call home, knowing how to find "safer strangers" to ask for help, etc) rather than necessarily overlaid with paralyzing fear.
Yes. It doesn't go into depth on the particular techniques, but it points to resources where they are available. Teaching a child to talk to a woman with children when lost is a very simple yet powerful technique.
Honestly, I reccomend the book to everyone. It's that good, and provides useful information for avoiding becoming a victim of violent crime in general.
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And probably one of the most helpful thing for law enforcement officers is to have a recent picture handy. School photos can be displayed on the refrigerator and regularly updated without unduly negative associations. Yet given the time crunch if a child were to be abducted, you would be glad to have it there, rather than waste time digging through the storage boxes in the garage.
May I say, I am posting up a copy of Chris' sonnet on my desk corkboard. Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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1) Clowns and Sasha. I told him this was my silly suit. He wants one for himself. The secret was to have him help me put it on, not for me to put it on and surprise him with a new papa look.
2) How did I explain Place? "Well, its anywhere particular. Its..um..its..hey, look at that squirrel" I plan on pointing out a lot of squirrells to him until he hits about 50.
3)While it appears that there are more dangers is the world today than there used to be, remember that many of the old ones have gone. Sure, 100 years ago nobody got shot at high school. But then kids that age would get shot while on the cattle drive. While some phsycho serial killer wasn't picking up kids on the street, disposable children were readilly acvailable in brothels, orphanages, factories, or aboard ship. You think the Cabin Boy was safe from the clutches of bored and lonely seamen? It wasn't that long ago that child sexual abuse by priests was a ignored fact. Then there was in-family abuse. The terror of the Step-Parent seen in such tales as "Hansel & Gretel" were based on practices seen in towns and villages around the world. The abusive step-father, or the incestous uncle are not modern inventions. They are just covered with more lurid details by today's media.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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But it was a morally uplifting and instruction'l sonnet, and didn't even mention bosoms once, after I edited it.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Bah. Children don't think their lives are free of care. Children, even those that live idyllic American lives, believe their lives to be full of tragedy and glory.
When we grow up, we learn to hone our capacity for tragedy and glory-- we seek glory in only in certain fields, and expect tragedy in certain quarters. Certain things-- a newfound zest for a certain hobby or trait, bring to mind the childish capacity for deep, self-involved glory. Or-- death, perhaps-- brings us to the consuming depression that perhaps only children are capable of.
But let's not delude ourselves with thinking that childhood is innocent. Oh no. Childhood is war and tears, glory and mud.
I agree with this completely.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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