To school and back
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bigbadwolf
- Posts: 726
- Joined: 7 Jan 2008 21:21
- Location: Forest Hill and Sydenham
To school and back
From the age of nine I walked to school with my own set of keys unsupervised (primary school, Eliot bank was a couple of minutes walk) and when we had sports day at Crystal palace stadium we walked from Forest hill school and back. Now I know times have changed i.e child predators and increased traffic and I don't have children so don't suffer the same anxieties associated with letting children taking the first steps towards independence but I think that road wary able bodied kids with less than a mile from their front door and vice versa should be encouraged to walk to school and back. What are your opinions?
Re: To school and back
Absolutely. Kidnappings, violence, and molestation of children by strangers has been static, or indeed declined, in western countries over the years - statistically speaking your children would be safer walking home than you were. The only difference is vastly increased frequency of media reports of these things that have whipped people into a frenzy of fear about the well being of their children around strangers.
Basically, media companies seize onto stories that sell papers. Sexual abuse, violence, and the like appeal to some base rubber-necking instinct that we have, and so these corporations have over time tuned their output to match what shocks people the most. The increase in stories about these things makes us think that they're becoming more frequent, when it's actually just the reporting that's changed.
Case in point, the "KNIFE CRIME EPIDEMIC" that "SWEPT THE NATION" last year. Actual statistics showed that knife-related incidents were completely in line with previous years. Media companies (broadcast, print, radio, etc) realized that the more they pushed this as a major issue, the more people would pay to read about it, until they had people convinced that they were in danger if they so much as ventured out their front doors.
Anecdotal stories about how much better things were "back in the good days" don't help either. There have actually been scientific studies showing that people tend to view the past in a more positive light than they view the present, which alters their perception.
An excellent read:
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/why-i-l ... bway-alone
I'm not sure I'd go to the extent that the woman in that story did, but it goes to show that children are quite capable of functioning without constant parental supervision - I know I did.
In sum, the media pushes fear to make money, damn the facts. People like drama, so they embrace it, damn the facts.
Sorry, this topic always gets me going. The fact that my sister is a print journalist makes for exciting family gatherings, as you can probably imagine.
Basically, media companies seize onto stories that sell papers. Sexual abuse, violence, and the like appeal to some base rubber-necking instinct that we have, and so these corporations have over time tuned their output to match what shocks people the most. The increase in stories about these things makes us think that they're becoming more frequent, when it's actually just the reporting that's changed.
Case in point, the "KNIFE CRIME EPIDEMIC" that "SWEPT THE NATION" last year. Actual statistics showed that knife-related incidents were completely in line with previous years. Media companies (broadcast, print, radio, etc) realized that the more they pushed this as a major issue, the more people would pay to read about it, until they had people convinced that they were in danger if they so much as ventured out their front doors.
Anecdotal stories about how much better things were "back in the good days" don't help either. There have actually been scientific studies showing that people tend to view the past in a more positive light than they view the present, which alters their perception.
An excellent read:
http://www.nysun.com/editorials/why-i-l ... bway-alone
I'm not sure I'd go to the extent that the woman in that story did, but it goes to show that children are quite capable of functioning without constant parental supervision - I know I did.
In sum, the media pushes fear to make money, damn the facts. People like drama, so they embrace it, damn the facts.
Sorry, this topic always gets me going. The fact that my sister is a print journalist makes for exciting family gatherings, as you can probably imagine.
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kingfisher
- Posts: 22
- Joined: 27 Jul 2008 11:38
- Location: forest hill
I also went to eliott bank school and had to walk from near F.H. station to the top of Thorpewood Ave every morning and back in the afternoon.Some of the time I used to go home for lunch.The only mishap was I got knocked over by a car,just by the swimming baths.Crossing in the wrong place, my mum always told me to cross by the library