A mother's account of life on the streets of London for teenage boys in The Times. "We all react in different ways: some keep their teenagers locked up or supervised, others let them out with spare money in their pockets, just in case."
She talks about two recent deaths in London. Nick Pearton, 16 was chased through a park in Sydenham and stabbed. He ran to a local fast food shop (pictured) where his mother cradled him in her arms, but paramedics could not save his life.
Marcin Bilaszewski was attacked after getting off a bus at Finsbury Park station - my local tube station.
If mothers are scared for their sons on the streets of London, how do the boys themselves react? How do you grow up and become independent - and keep danger in proportion - when you read about Nick and Marcin?
Anyone fancy moving to Scandinavia?
ReplyDelete*Plentymorefishoutofwater - One Man's Dating Diary*
I don't know that you can - I've been thinking about the scale of control we've taken over our children's lives because of danger. When I was growing up we'd spend ours playing out on the estate with the neighbours kids, we walked to school on our own from quite a young age, certainly 7 or 8, we learned to deal with peer group conflict on our own because, quite often, no adults were around to help resolve issues. I fear that in shrouding our children we have betrayed them some how - by punishing them for the deeds of others - and yet I can't think of another way to deal with it. I struggle to let my 15 year old walk home on her own, I do let her but Millie Dowler is always at the back of my mind....it's a double whammy with these attacks because the attackers are so often children themselves...if we'd let them have these disputes as young children, would they have learned to moderate their behaviour - have we let childhood extend into adulthood by not allowing childhood freedoms when they were safe to be had??? Am writing this in a rush before school run (!) - hope it doesn't sound like nonsense....
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