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Are Children Over-Protected?

Tatiana Vdb/flickr creative commons

Sitting around the studio recently, we recalled how much more freedom we had than today's children do. In fact, Chris Prosperi, Alex Province, and I realized our parents might have been arrested if today's standards were in effect back then. What has changed?

Listen this hour as we discuss:

  • What we did as kids with our parents' permission
  • Is life now far more dangerous than it was in decades past, or have our standards simply changed?
  • What are the actual statistics surrounding child kidnapping compared to decades past?
  • What role do media and Internet stories play in creating a "culture of fear?"
  • Should so-called "free-range" parents be arrested for allowing their kids to roam freely, unsupervised?
  • How much freedom is necessary to foster independence in children?
  • When does concern for a child's safety turn into unjustified paranoia?
  • Has society's parent-blaming culture in the past decade helped create obsessive "helicopter parenting?"
  • Are parents today smarter than parents were long ago, and will it result in children who feel safe, protected, and appropriately wary of strangers?
  • Is there a difference in attitude about the safety of children depending on how much money you have?

Join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook.

GUESTS:

  • Paula Fass – editor, The Ruttledge History of Childhood in the Western World
  • Chris Prosperi – chef/owner, Métro Bis restaurant
  • Alex Province – wine enthusiast

MUSIC:

  • “Gne Gne,” Montefiori Cocktail
  • “Modul 8_9 Iii,” Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin

Lori Mack, Jonathan McNicol, and Marian Roy contributed to this show, which originally aired June 9, 2015.

For more than 25 years, the two-time Peabody Award-winning Faith Middleton Show has been widely recognized for fostering insightful, thought-provoking conversation. Faith Middleton offers her listeners some of the world's most fascinating people and subjects. The show has been inducted into the Connecticut Magazine Hall of Fame as "Best Local Talk Show".

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