Risk aversion is undermining childhood, new report claims
We all want to keep children safe – but are we going the
right way about it? By over protecting children we stop them
developing the skills and resilience they need to protect
themselves – while those working with children can become so
anxious about risk prevention they lose confidence in their own
good judgement.
That is the message of a publication launched today (Monday 29
October) by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In No Fear: Growing
up in a risk averse society, former government adviser Tim Gill
argues that childhood is being undermined by the growth of risk
aversion and its intrusion into every aspect of children’s
lives.
No Fear explores a number of key areas – including
children’s play, anti-social behaviour, adult vetting and
fear of strangers – identifying the ways in which our
preoccupation with eliminating risk is restricting children’s
freedoms and corroding their relationships with adults.
“Although there is a widely held view that children grow
up faster today, in fact their lives are far more controlled than
they were 30 years ago,” said Tim Gill. “In this
shrinking domain of childhood, our tendency always to view children
as fragile means we are not encouraging them to develop their
natural resilience – learning to manage risk in an
age-appropriate way.
“This is not an unconditional plea for the deregulation of
childhood: children want adults to help them stay safe, and of
course we must accept that responsibility. But rather than having a
nanny state, where risk aversion dominates the landscape, we should
be aspiring to a child-friendly society, where communities look out
for each other and for children – and the government has an
important role to play in encouraging that vision.”
“We have a long tradition of influential work on
children’s issues, and Gulbenkian’s interest reflects
our core aim of seeking to bring about lasting, beneficial change
in the experiences that people have in life,” said Andrew
Barnett, director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (UK).
“We need to ensure that ‘safety first’ does not
drive out the opportunities children should have for experiment and
development, and that our desire to defend young people against
some very real dangers does not lead us into a sanitised world in
which creativity and personal growth are stifled.”
No Fear: Growing up in a risk averse society by Tim Gill is
published by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The book and a
four-page summary can be downloaded free from www.gulbenkian.org.uk from
Monday 29 October. Copies of the book (£8.50 + p&p, ISBN
978 1 903080 08 5) can be ordered from www.centralbooks.co.uk