Brian Ribbon's Journal: What Do People Expect?

There are a couple of extremely critical articles regarding children being banned from "playing tag." It is, of course, ridiculous that children should be banned from playing this game, however the parents who are complaining should be aware that they are at least partly responsible for this.

Parents intend to protect their children from child molesters, dangerous games, inappropiate TV, etc. That's probably a good idea, but when their fears grow to include "protecting children" from non-offending adults, safe games and TV with a little nudity and minor violence, their control is being taken out of their hands.

It should be obvious that the teacher mentioned in the articles does not care about children.... and TV networks which censor childrens' TV do not care about children. They only care about satisfying parents and protecting themselves from liability. The lack of common sense from parents has led to the authorities and other inadequate "official" groups controlling the rules which govern childrens' lives and has caused the situations which parents are so angry about. The people who are professionally responsible for children are running for cover.

In the same way that it's reasonable for children to play tag, it's reasonable for children to spend time with minor-attracted people. There is, of course, the potential for a minor-attracted person to harm a child, just as there is the potential for a game of tag to cause harm, but in both examples, the risk is exaggerated, primarily by the media. Most games of tag do not lead to injury, most minor-attracted people do not have sex with children, but in both cases, reports of harm have led to paranoia and the people who are professionally responsible for children are forced to protect themselves.

These are just two examples of irrational fears which have led to absurd levels of "protection", but when parents are paranoid and irrational, they shouldn't expect anything other than increased paranoia from the authorities who are responsible for their children.