It seems to me that there is an epidemic of hypocritical thinking going on amongst Anglo-American parents and the media that panders to their every ill-informed prejudice in the hopes of putting more advertisements in front of their eyeballs.
On the one hand, one can scarcely open a newspaper, magazine (particularly those that appear in doctors waiting rooms) or internet site targeted at parents and not be assaulted by a half-dozen variations on the children spend too much time watching tv/playing video games/surfing the web tripe that passes for concerned, attentive parenting these days.
On the other hand, it is impossible to have a conversation with or read discussion group postings by parents that does not, at regular intervals, revolve around the idea that the world is a much too dangerous place for children to be outside in alone,what with all of the kidnappers, molesters, crazed motorists and vicious teenage gangs lurking around every corner and behind every bush to variously abduct, penetrate, run over or kick in the teeth of their precious fragile children.
What I can’t understand is how these two ideas can be held in the same minds without some sort of cognitive dissonance arising. It seems plainly obvious to me that the latter is causing the former, particularly in light of the stories, all too common, of kids like Brennan Hawkins who, finding himself lost in the mountains, spent three days hiding from his would-be rescuers because of the irrational fear of the Other inculcated in him by his parents. If “stranger danger”has been drilled into these kids hard enough to make them doubt the sincerity of mountain rescue teams trying to save their lives, is it any wonder that they are developing a generational case of Hikikomori?
Tags: childhood, fear
These are the ramblings of 
The message that kids are spending too much time exposed to media comes not from parents, but from experts in child-rearing and health. Kids do spend far more time glued to the idiot box than previous generations, and the net result is an obesity epidemic (among other problems). The fact that we have this very visible problem indicates that parents are not internalizing this message.
On the issue of child safety, I agree we live in a society that has become hypervigilant to the point of paranoia. There is starting to be a little bit of a backlash, e.g. The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden, which addresses this very topic.
But we also need to acknowledge that many of us were raised in patently unsafe environments (and many didn’t live to tell about it).
I grew up before seat belts, much less child safety seats. No sane person would argue that babies were better off without a five-point harness. That’s just one of many, many examples of ways today’s children are safer, ways that are based on empirical evidence, not paranoia. Yet my father takes umbrage when I properly install his child seat in his car before I let my kid ride in it. Am I paranoid?
One thing I can tell you for certain is that your perspective shifts radically when you become a parent. I just finished Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, which does a really good job capturing the way a father’s love for his son can manifest itself.
Check the links I provided to see that enough parents have internalized the message to convince Google.
As to safety, how did we get from “stranger danger” to car seats? Requiring your child to wear a car seat has little, if anything, to do with convincing them that everyone and everything is out to get them. What exactly is a “patently unsafe environment” and how many is “many”? That phraseology seems a bit extreme and perhaps even alarmist.
I am going to assume that the last paragraph is more about how becoming a parent somehow makes you lose your common sense than how that since I do not yet have children I am unfit to discuss them. I disagree with both ideas vehemently.
I can see both sides here to some extent. I don’t think that you have to have children to be fit to discuss parenting anymore then an OBGYN has to be a female to be fit for the position. However, I will also concide that having children will radically change you and your perceptions of parenting. Its funny how “stranger danger” was (is) drilled into the heads of children when we now know that the vast majority of abductions, molestations, murders etc… are not commited by strangers at all. Most of the time these horrible events are perpetared by a close relitive or family member. I personally think that the media is partially to blame for the up to the minute never-ending breaking stories on sensational yet uncomman(compared to majority of less sensational yet very real crimes by family members/close family friends) crimes by the crazy stranger in the middle of daylight by the schoolyard. This goes along with the theory that if crime rates drop but news coverage of crime increases, society is more afraid. Also, parents need to get their kids(and themselves) off the fat asses and then read more.