Posted by Mike Dennis on April 08, 2008 at 13:10:23 from 81.79.42.221 user MTD.
In Reply to: Re: Cotton Wool Kids posted by Peter H on April 08, 2008 at 11:51:42:
Odds and logic don't come into it. In 1960 my brother (then days off his eleventh birthday) was killed in a road accident, and of course from there on I was over-protected (I was seven). But in reality I did things when I was ten and eleven I would be horrified if my partner's grandchildren did them.
At that time we lived on the outskirts of a village in Hertfordshire and during the summer holidays I would wander over the local fields and woods, by the river, across the railway tracks for what in my memory seem long periods of time. Often I was alone, occasionally with one friend from the village. Yet in contrast I didn't come home from the village school once until late (about an hour after school finished - usually a twenty minute walk) and my parents were quite angry with me.
As I get older I think it comes down to loss or potential loss, and it doesn't matter how much you know about the odds and the statistics if your worried about it nothing is going to change that.
A connection with AR? While I spent those holidays wandering the fields I wanted to be like his characters, particularly those in CC and BS - we had been on holidays to the Norfolk Broads and the idea of having a group of real friends to have real adventures with was very appealing.