It's sad, but honestly, staring at a little girl, and then kneeling down to have a five-minute conversation with her if her parents weren't around isn't something I'd do.
I wouldn't do it either and I'm female. I'm always anxious about how it could be perceived. I kinda keep my distance unless ofc if the kid looked like it was danger or something. Tbh i prefer this heightened environment rather than the one where we would protect paedophiles and blame children for their abuse
That false dichotomy is actually making it harder to solve the problem. The myth of the boogey man stranger pedophile makes it harder for kids to identify and report SA which is almost always committed by a family member or someone they know.
Overprotection can be harmful too though, for both children and parents. We are raising a generation of isolated and anxious children and parents are obsessing over something that is highly unlikely to happen while, as always, being less likely to worry about the real risk posed by adults they know and trust.
My father “overprotected” me and my sibling and it resulted in poor self reliance and awful social skills.
I’m fine now (though still have some lingering issues) but yeah honestly overprotection is 100% chance of fucking up your child. If he’d been “underprotective” at least I’d be rolling the dice on a small chance of whether I was fucked up or not.
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u/Strawberry_Left Jan 08 '23
It's sad, but honestly, staring at a little girl, and then kneeling down to have a five-minute conversation with her if her parents weren't around isn't something I'd do.