Protecting the kids

Parents, more often than not, tend to be somewhat protective of their offspring. It’s instinctive.

While surfing the net a few days back, I came across an article which brought back an incident that happened while I was living on the east coast back in 1991-92. My 15 year old daughter was recounting the experience of her afternoon swimming at Georges River. After listening to her describe the “fun” of jumping off the Georges River Bridge into the water below, I began a lecture on the perils of such activity.

I had barely begun when the younger of my two brothers interrupted with, “Uh, just how old were you again, the first time you went off that bridge?” Sometimes uncles should be seen and not heard.

“That’s not the point,” I countered.

But, of course, that was the point. Sometimes parents, out of concern for the well being of their children, begin to see menace in every shadow; boogiemen lurking behind every bush. It’s instinctive.

And, some “public service” organizations and government bodies have latched onto this trait of parental concern and are using it to further their own ends. “We’ve got to put an end to this or that threat . . . for the good of the children.”

And parents, because protection of their offspring is instinctive, stand ready to shelter their young from dangers both real and imagined. The trick, I suspect, is in how we determine what constitutes a real threat and those alleged threats which are merely the result of an overactive imagination or personal bias.

The article which had me thinking about these mundane matters was a 2006 news brief from the Associated Press and concerned two volunteer cheerleading coaches who were dismissed because one of them pulled up her shirt and “exposed” about three inches of her belly to a group of seven and eight year olds in their charge at a youth football game.

Christine Smith, an assistant coach with the Frederick Youth Sports Association, and head coach Debbie Wheaton, had drawn an image of a smiley face on Smith's abdomen to cheer up their young female students. "Every time the girls weren't smiling, I showed them the smiley face. They thought it was hilarious," Smith said.

However, the president of the association, Kathy Carey, said three people complained about the incident and she agreed with them. "Pulling your shirt up is inappropriate and it's not what our organization is about. The community can understand we need to protect the kids and the integrity of the organization," Carey said.

"The community can understand we need to protect the kids . . . " Uh-huh.

But, from what were the children being protected? Was a little good-natured fun with their coaches really so injurious?

"I didn't feel it was inappropriate," Smith told the Frederick News-Post. "Those girls at that age level are put in extracurricular activities to have fun. The intention was meant to be funny; it was blown completely out of proportion."

Maybe we need to define the true nature of a threat before we go overboard protecting our children from it.