[garinda]

I read this thread when it was posted, and have just finished reading the replies when I've just got in at eleven o'clock tonight.

It's dark, and I've walked past children still out whose ages I presume range from seven to fifteen, all unsupervised by any adults, which is wrong.

I totally agree that parents should take responsibility for their children. On the otherhand, I remember in the school holidays being allowed to play out until it was going 'a bit dark', which happened tonight about 8.30pm.

It does seem a shame that the freedoms the previous generations enjoyed, to begin to explore the world, are being erroded. Are there really that many more dangers now than in years gone by, or are we just better informed of them because of an obsessive media?

This isn't a plea for parents to absolve themselves of responsibilities, just a comment on how children could grow up in fear of things happening to them which in all probobility will not, and missing out on the fun of building dens, damming streams or pretending discover new countries which are in fact a few scrubby bushes.