'Unsupervised' kids

Flee_2

I for one would be unhappy seeing young children naked in a public park. I know lots of parents who have children that strip off constantly, and it is up to the parent to explain to the child and deal with the issue. Obviously the parents were not watching the children as OP stated. 3 years old is too young to be unsupervised, or to be supervised by an 8 year old.
And people stating that there are no threats from adults, is rubbish, don't presume anything. Children are vunerable.

dizziblonde

Is the naked part REALLY fair on any other men using the area who'd be terrified of immediately being accused of being you-know-whats just because of the public hysteria on it all and the fact someone else thinks it's fair to let their kids run around naked in public? More than the supervision part (and it being pretty unfair on the older kids to fob the responsibility for their siblings off onto them), the fact it probably made other people feel very very uncomfortable, not in the "wrongness" of the situation, but in the way that they themselves would be feeling viewed by others around just because they happened to be in the same place at the same time... that's not on.

I'll get shot down in flames by the "kids should be allowed to run freeeee" brigade for that, but I bet it probably made lots of other people feel uncomfortable about what they might be accused of just for being in the same place as the naked kids to be honest.

mildred1978

Much better to keep all the kids locked up indoors, and teach them to be ashamed of their bodies.



:wall:

mildred1978

This really gets my goat. My local (council) swimming pool has signs up everywhere in the pool area that cameras are not allowed and photos must not be taken. I find that a little bizarre given that everyone is dressed but there we go.

The changing rooms, however, where adults and children are likely to be naked have no such restrictions! How does that work then?!

The other weekend we took our son swimming in the evening. There was no-one else there, just us and the lifeguard. Adult pool was empty, child pool was empty. I asked the lifeguard if I could take a picture of my son and husband in the pool as we don't have any photos of that. I was told 'no'. No reason given, and no logic applied.

There must be an enormous (black) market for pictures of children and their parents in swimwear :rolleyes:

aliasojo

I don't think I'd be too happy with the naked thing but only because of a safety aspect. Falling with clothes on can result in a graze but falling naked could mean more of an injury. If there was any rubbish lying around or some broken glass etc, I think the child would be worse off being naked. Also if it was a park with swings slides etc, I could see some nipped skin or friction burns happening. :undecided

The other thing that's bothering me a bit isn't about the kids but about the replies.

Everyone is posting about how low the risk from abusers/abductors is to kids, but surely it's never safe to go down the 'risk is low, so we can dismiss any thoughts of that' route?

That doesn't mean wrapping kids up in cotton wool and keeping them within arms length all the time, but I do think a level of common sense is needed and dismissing a risk just because it's a low risk, isn't sensible to me.

Children do get adbucted from busy places and in front of other kids sometimes.

When our kids get older, we teach them to stay away from drugs. Some of the more recent drug deaths have been kids taking drugs for the first time and the drug has been cut with bad substances. The risk of this happening was low, hundreds if not thousands of kids take drugs all over the world, very few will be killed by their first shot at it, yet it does happen and the Police have been running campaigns to get kids to recognise the 'it only takes one time' message.

Surely we as parents would be wise to heed the same message and apply it to all aspects of looking after our kids?

mikey72

silvercar wrote: »

In 1988, in my local park, a twelve year old boy walked, in took the hand of a 2 year old and walked off with her. She had been playing in the park with her 9 year old sister and a group of other children. The parents were momentarily out of sight. The next day her body was found.

So don't expect children to scream and react the way adults would. Don't expect slightly older children to have the awareness to distinguish play from danger.

aliasojo wrote: »

................The other thing that's bothering me a bit isn't about the kids but about the replies.

Everyone is posting about how low the risk from abusers/abductors is to kids, but surely it's never safe to go down the 'risk is low, so we can dismiss any thoughts of that' route?

That doesn't mean wrapping kids up in cotton wool and keeping them within arms length all the time, but I do think a level of common sense is needed and dismissing a risk just because it's a low risk, isn't sensible to me.

Children do get adbucted from busy places and in front of other kids sometimes.
When our kids get older, we teach them to stay away from drugs. Some of the more recent drug deaths have been kids taking drugs for the first time and the drug has been cut with bad substances. The risk of this happening was low, hundreds if not thousands of kids take drugs all over the world, very few will be killed by their first shot at it, yet it does happen and the Police have been running campaigns to get kids to recognise the 'it only takes one time' message.

If it was once the decade before last, it's probably not a very high risk.
More children are injured or killed falling off the play equipment.
I didn't stand under my kids every time they went on the slide though, or ban they using any play areas.

If you are worried about drugs, do you ever worry drug users were injecting while sitting in the play area last night?
Do you always go and check there are no sharps left for your kids to stand or sit on?
That happens far more than abductions.

Personally, sometimes you just have to let them grow, and let them learn they can do things on their own.

shellsuit

mikey72 wrote: »

If it was once the decade before last, it's probably not a very high risk.
More children are injured or killed falling off the play equipment.
I didn't stand under my kids every time they went on the slide though, or ban they using any play areas.

If you are worried about drugs, do you ever worry drug users were injecting while sitting in the play area last night?
Do you always go and check there are no sharps left for your kids to stand or sit on?
That happens far more than abductions.

Personally, sometimes you just have to let them grow, and let them learn they can do things on their own.

I always walk around the play area in the park first looking for broken glass or anything that could harm my little one before letting him loose to run around.

It's quite sad, because needles and broken glass etc, shouldn't be anywhere near kids play areas, but sadly the selfish pigs who leave them/it there don't give a stuff. :mad:

mikey72

Surprisingly. I do find it odd, that no one at all, from either side of the fence, has mentioned that the kids shouldn't be running around naked without any sun cream on. I did keep our kids covered up for that reason, and they have learnt to cover up and not get burnt (They nag at me now, if I don't use cream or oil, and they pack it in case I don't)

(I bet there are some parents on here that worry about putting sun cream on other peoples kids because somone will accuse them of being a child molester)

mikey72

shellsuit wrote: »

I always walk around the play area in the park first looking for broken glass or anything that could harm my little one before letting him loose to run around.

It's quite sad, because needles and broken glass etc, shouldn't be anywhere near kids play areas, but sadly the selfish pigs who leave them/it there don't give a stuff. :mad:

I check for glass as well. The only thing I ever normally find is dog cr*p.

shellsuit

mikey72 wrote: »

I check for glass as well. The only thing I ever normally find is dog cr*p.

I've never found dog crap or needles, but I've found broken glass a couple of times.

Our kids play area is 'penned in' so to speak, so dogs can't get in there.