On rules.

That sounds dull, doesn't it, rules....but at least I'm not talking the don't run in corridors rules. I'm talking those sneaky, invisible rules, that are easier to notice, and are more problematic when ignored. Everyone has these unique rules, they are part of what makes them the person they are, and it invariably irritates me when a person has the rule for the rest of the world, but a different one for themselves.
Parents are always like that. I am a lot older now, and would argue, but I remember many times seeing these unspoken rules being broken...things like all being present for tea. Now though we were never told, me and my little sister Rosie knew full well at tea time we were to sit at the table. Sometimes we didn't, and we got the reproachful aura, the odd comment here and their about family and its values. Standard stuff. But when they wanted to eat in front of the TV or play their videogames...there was no problem there. Only a very basic example, as I would spend forever going through it otherwise, but you get the point.
Still I notice parents are the worst offenders. They will most heartily scream at a screaming child, or hit a child for hurting another child, without ever considering the fact they are condoning breaking these rules for themselves, but not for the child. Why is it so easy to do? My general access to children is to children that ask about this, if they notice it, perhaps that's why I try so hard not to do it. The kids I work with often operate on a purely logical set of assumptions, though of course that depends on the child and I can't make it a full generalisation. (Many don't see societies unspoken rules, and are thought to be naughty when in fact they are just existing as they see fit.)
The point I am considering is not actually involving a parent and child, but two friends that I have observed around another friend from a distance. The reproachful one is reproachful about things so completely unfair its actually hard to distinguish whether they know and are doing it anyway, or they really are so efficient at not seeing their own faults they just get on with it.

It annoys me, when it happens around me....why can they berate you for hurting their feelings, and then do the same thing after you've apologised and promised it will never happen again? I am torn between the paranoia that they are getting revenge on you, or the amazement that they just don't see the connection. I'm not sure which ones worse. I sometimes worry that I do it.

Anyway, enough with my bizzare annoyances, and back to collecting up all my CRB documents. Proof of address, proof of ID, proof of toenails, proof of name, proof of eyelashes... It's all quite endless. I think I've got it all together, but who knows? We'll see when I get there, and she gasps and tells me without a stool sample, I cannot possibly be adequate to get clawed by hyperactive children.

The rules surrounding childrens play are now completely ridiculous. No play fighting, no unnecessary contact, no holding hands unless by a busy road, if a child hugs you, you must make sure your hands are visible at all times, should you need to comfort a child, you must never hug front to front, or back to front, you must only touch side to side, you must never give out plasters without proper documentation, you must never be alone with a child for any reason, you should never joke with a child in a way that could be considered unappropriate or discriminatory, you must never tease, you must never do anything that could ever develop a link or a rapport with a child at anytime! Ever!

People are now so afraid of working with children that the children have begun to manipulate the power of the rules that are in place, its so stupid, it needs to be relaxed, and the terror of legal action should be removed.

If a child scrapes their knee, for gods sake, they scraped their knee, that doesn't mean that the bike they fell off should be condemned as unsafe, it means the child needs to learn to ride it better. Without that fall, their balance will never improve.

Even something as painful as a broken bone has its upsides, it shows you your limitations, and you know how sore or how surprisingly not sore things can be, you know the risks associated with trees, heights, steeps hills, whatever it is you were silly and fell off.

Kids are now thought to be unsafe out on the streets where my generation learnt to risk asess for themselves, and now you put them in care clubs that do all the risk asessment before they get there, and refuse to let them learn these skills for fear of being sued if it all goes a bit west. So they end up doing things like making collages, or cards, for all eternity. You think a kid would ever actually choose to make an undersea collage? Really?

When asked now, six year old children are afraid of molesters, rapists, murderers, burglars...when I was a child I was afraid of the Tomorrow People!

Can you imagine what the children today are going to be like as adults? Will they be able to stand on a chair to change a lightbulb? Will they dare even touch a lightbulb?

You survived broken arms, barked knees, concussions, getting stuck in trees, stung by jellyfish, scratched all to hell falling of bikes and skateboards...so will they.

Let the poor things have some fun.