Today’s presentation will be a virtual meeting.
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“Are We Overprotecting our Kids?”
Presented by Victor Zurkowski
In May of this year, four children got lost in the Amazonian jungle after a being in plane accident (1,2). They were found alive 40 days later. The children are siblings, ages 13, 9, 4, and 1 at the time of the plane crash. The fact that they survived, and that they will make a full physical recovery speaks to the resilience of children in extremely foreboding places and circumstances.
We live in an urban environment, where children are exposed to risks different from those encountered in the jungle.
Whereas the children in the Amazon survive by adapting to the environment, children who become lost in our urban setting can only survive by living on the margins or completely outside of society. Are we protecting our children to palliate for urban alienation?
In 2014, Stormy Solis died of a traumatic brain injury after falling from a playground swing on a school in Portland. As a reaction, several school districts (3) in the area phased out swings from their playgrounds. Over-reaction?
In Ontario, playgrounds are required to be licensed in order to operate. There are safety recommendations provided by government and private councils, such as “Be careful of metal slides. The sun can make them very hot” or “Don’t go barefoot. Always wear your shoes. If you go barefoot, you could get a splinter or a cut”. (5) Over-reaction?
Exposure to safe germs in soil or animal feces strengthens children immunity system. (4) Are we letting children be exposed to safe germs?
Topics for comments, with some help from ChatGPT:
· “There is no law in Ontario that dictates a specific age at which a child can be left unsupervised. The law is purposefully vague […] because there are many variables to take into consideration.” (6, 7)
· Helicopter Parenting
· Risk of social media, social media addiction
· Role of schools, legal liability, moral liability
· Cultural differences, “the good old days”
· Possible dangers of overprotecting children:
o children raised risk averse
o raising “Cotton wool kids”
o raising children that fail to develop coping mechanisms
1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNKEAHPljUg&ab_channel=WallStreetJournal
3. https://komonews.com/news/local/two-school-districts-ban-swing-sets-following-girls-death
5. https://canadasafetycouncil.org/playground-safety/
6. Ruiz-Casares, M., & Radic, I. (2015). Legal Age for Leaving Children Unsupervised Across Canada. CWRP Information Sheet #144E. Montreal, QC: McGill University, Centre for Research on Children and Families (downloaded from https://cwrp.ca/sites/default/files/publications/144e.pdf)
7. https://www.torontocas.ca/sites/torontocas/files/FS_HomeAlone_English.pdf