Posted by Peter H on April 08, 2008 at 11:51:42 from 86.130.128.162 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Cotton Wool Kids posted by Jenny on April 08, 2008 at 10:04:16:
some of the worries of particularly anxious parents
I'm afraid that statistics have no effect on these worries. We are a generation which has a strange attitude to very long odds. The chances of your child being murdered on a school journey are probably 10 million to one roughly (I haven't checked but it's probably something like that, perhaps even greater). But people buy stakes in the National Lottery when the chance of winning the Jackpot is about the same. My neighbour spends £5 a week on Lottery tickets on the basis that "I might just win". On exactly the same approach to probability, your child "might just be attacked". People read about child murders, and about Lottery winners, in the press every week - they are both things that happen. Hence the over-protection of children. My answer would be - don't cosset your child - the odds are overwhelmingly in favour of his/her safety; and don't waste money on the Lottery - the odds are overwhelmingly against you winning.