As we all know, it’s an upward battle to battle fear with education.
Rodney Ashby, a Long Range Planner from the City of Nampa, Idaho, sent us this info about a radio station he heard and wanted to share…
The other day I asked about whether Law Enforcement or society’s major push on protecting children from "stranger danger" is partly responsible for the deterioration in kid’s health and other problems. I was listening to NPR today and heard a very interesting report about this exact thing. If you have a little time, I’d encourage you to listen to "What to Tell the Children" on The Story. Here’s the link: http://thestory.org/
The woman being interviewed is from the National Child Protection Training Center and describes how creating fear for children in the way most parents do is the wrong way to teach them how to be responsible. It is also ineffective. There is a pretty good discussion about independence of children who have bicycles too and how that independence has deteriorated since the 1980’s push on "Stranger Danger". She highlights the infrequency of abductions and provides some guidance for how we should be teaching our children about safety.
Just thought it was worth sharing.
Rodney Ashby
Long Range Planner
City of Nampa, Idaho
Safe Routes to School 