FREE RANGE KIDS
PARENTS WHO WON'T GIVE IN TO FEAR
WRAPPING kids in cotton wool is depriving this generation of vital life experiences, according to a leading Gold Coast criminology professor.
Doctor Wayne Petherick from Bond University is urging parents to step back and let their kids take acceptable risks such as riding their bikes to school or playing in the front yard. He said heavily publicised child abductions such as those of Daniel Morcombe and Madeleine McCann have caused parents to worry too much.
But Queensland Police statistics show that of the 266 children reported missing on the Gold Coast since July last year, all were found.
It’s been the same trend since 2005. More than 200 Gold Coast children have been reported missing since then, and all have been located.
“Let’s say you have one child abduction and it’s covered over and over again, people will get the perception that there is a higher prevalence of child abductions,” Dr Petherick explained.
“The reality is the vast ma-
jority of child abductions are over custody issues, they are not random strangers snatching a child off the street – sure, it does happen but they are statistically infrequent.
“I think there has to be a balance between the fear and not letting that fear control us because kids are missing out on some great experiences.”
Dr Petherick said he considers the Gold Coast as a “safe place to live” but despite that, parents were being overprotective. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re bubble-wrapping our kids,” he told the
Bulletin.
“Childhood obesity could be a side-effect if we’re not letting kids ride their bikes to school, they’re getting significantly less exercise.
“My message to the parents of the Gold Coast is don’t let the fear dominate you and your life or your kids.”
Dr Petherick’s point of view is echoed by demographer Bernard Salt who said we are creating a generation “that has no resilience” as a result.
“People are more conscious of it with the smaller families,” he explained.
“When you have kids, you can’t really afford to be molly coddling six individual kids but when you only have two kids, they become more precious and you’re more conscious of safety and things going wrong. But if you raise a bubble-wrap generation then they don’t know how to cope by themselves ... it doesn’t create kids that are self-reliant.
“They’ve always had their parents there to pick them up and protect them. Parents need to strike a right balance between being sensibly careful and smothering.”
District Child Protection and Investigation Unit boss Detective Inspector Mark White said child abductions were rare on the Gold Coast.
“As far as I’m concerned, we do live in a safe community. We have isolated incidents where things occur but I think generally we do live in a safe community,” he said.
“Obviously it’s a case by case situation ... we wouldn’t be recommending kids walking by themselves late at night.
“I don’t think it’s bubble-wrapping, it’s just making sure there is that there’s that extra layer of safety.”
Insp White said parents were more conscious due to previous incidents such as the murder of Daniel Morcombe.
“It’s up to the individual person how they parent their children,” he said.