Does the world today make you worry more about your kids

[mamadadawahwah]

Things arent the same as they used to be. Are you scared?

The youth of today, eh. What's wrong with cheap cider like we used to have to make our own entertainment with?

MI, she'll then develop a baking habit

"Would you like a chocolate brownie grandma?"

The Domestic Goddess of 2015

kids arnt so different these days,just we know of the dangers more,ok the odd spliff wont kill your child,a sneaky tipple or two behind the bike sheds wont kill them[make em sick maby]but wont kill them,im more worries about the violence that comes along with the drug culture,but still kids need all the facts they can get there head round,and someone to hold them when they feel out of there depth,and feel safe then you cant go far wrong,can i have a choc brownie too?

Frank Furedi's Paranoid Parenting is very good. And yes, he is the husband of Ann Furedi.

I don't worry about my dd as a toddler too much but I do worry about what she'll be exposed to as an adolescent. Drugs, frequent binge drinking, more liley to be a victim of violent crime.

I also worry about the magnitude of traffic.

I worry, i worry about increase in std's, drugs, murder, paedophilia, rape. But i think my mother worried about the same things with me. She used to tell me not to get into anybodies cars that i didn't know cos i could be taken away and never see her again - peadophilia. She would wait up for me until early hours cos she couldn't sleep because something might have happened to me - rape, drugs, murder.In fact she would send my father out in the early hours to pick me up - so she knew i'd be safe. Not sure he liked doing it (especially when i was sick in his car- too much wiskey) She used to sit me down and go over and over contraception telling me that there were two fool proof ways not to catch and std or fall pregnant, no. 1 to cellotape my legs together, no.2 to say NO. She gave me pamphlet after pamphlet on the dangers of drugs. And her mum did exactly the same. And so will I (in fact learnt to drive so i can pick up dd from her night clubs - she's two). Things don't change, it's just our awareness and the media.

I can get quite 'fluffy' when I think back to growing up in the 70's. Probably rose-cloured specs. but I remember being allowed out to play with neighbours kids unsupervised at 6 or 7 years old - not something I'd let mine do now (although we didn't have too far to wander.) I definately think that traffic is more of an issue now, we have vans (why is it always vans?) hurtling along our side street and if I allowed my boys out to play I would be more concerned about that than 'stranger danger.'
My parents were 'aware' though, my dad was a policeman and I remember him telling me that, if anyone told me they worked with him and that I should go with them, to ask to see their warrant card (police ID).
I agree with aloha, it's easy to forget the bad things about different eras, our neighbour was murdered by the IRA - shot on the doorstep after a night out - so it wasn't all so 'fluffy' eh?

Not yet as I know where my dd is all the time but when I think of all the wandering off I did on my own when I was a bit older it makes me go cold! (OK we lived in the middle of nowhere but .....look what happened to Janette Tate!! I know children disappearing is rare and I'm not saying it didn;t happen 35 years ago, but the media didn't make such a meal of everything then!! What worries me more is the influence other people may have on her and will she be informed/strong enough to resist. Guess that's our job as parents!