In the news this morning is the story of 7 year old Isabelle allowed by her parents to walk 20 metres from her front door to catch the school bus. Nanny, in the form of Lincolnshire County Council, discovered this case of parental neglect and threatened the parents with a child protection order. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-11295617 and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8001444/Girl-cannot-walk-to-bus-stop-alone.html).
BBC Radio 4s World at One invited my comment. It was a brief item sandwiched between the Popes visit and the story of the exploits of a female British spy in France during the Second World War.
I was allowed time to make the following points: (19 minutes into the programme)
- In 1971 80% of 7 and 8 year old children got to school on their own without adult accompaniment. By 1990 this had dropped to 9%, and now, 20 years further on, it has become a child protection issue.
- In the Netherlands most 7-year-old children cycle to school unaccompanied by adults without helmets and enjoy a superior safety record.
- They (the Dutch) enjoy the benefit of the Safety in Numbers phenomenon. In the Netherlands motorists drive in the expectation of encountering children in the streets. In Britain, as children are withdrawn from the streets, it becomes more dangerous for those who are left.
- British children are increasingly denied the freedom to do anything without adult supervision, and the requirement for supervising adults to have Criminal Records Bureau checks is reducing the number of adult supervisors. So children will increasingly be left wrapped in cotton wool in front of their computer screens.