Two tragedies occurred on a day that was supposed to be devoted to 'fun' things. Both emotively involving children - in the case of the car accident- a 3-yr old was hit by a car outside his house - two differing versions-- one- that the child was called to play by neighbours across the road, the other that he was standing by the side of the road and got hit by an overtaking car. The other case involves children drenching a passer-by with water and presumably coloured powder ( as seen in the photograph) and then being threatened by the man who was then confronted by another Adult male who then got stabbed to death for his involvement.
While both are sad cases and avoidable, my question is where were the responsible (for the children) adults??
I have always admired the fact that very young children walk/paddle to school, while up in England, more and more Rules are enforced to safeguard the health of the children to almost the point of ridiculous-- boys being boys will have scrapes and my sister had three phonecalls when her son fell over requiring that she eventually bring him home. However I note that parents have more become both more lax, spending less 'quality time' with children but also more aggressive when their child has been pulled up - to the point of threatening the Teacher attempting to enforce discipline.
In both the examples-- it is a throwback to the bygone days when children would simply run out and play with other children in the street-- I certainly did, when I had got bored with re-reading my books - but it is important to note that that was in the days when there were a lot fewer cars on the road and people who drove them seemed to be of a more sober disposition!
As for splooshing a stranger-- we wouldn't have dreamed of it - pelting a water-filled balloon is an entirely different matter- what I mean it was automatic that you respected if someone you knew didn't want to play but leading an assault on a stranger was pretty much out of the question for us- though there were some street people KNEW not to venture on if they wanted to keep their clothes intact.
While both are sad cases and avoidable, my question is where were the responsible (for the children) adults??
I have always admired the fact that very young children walk/paddle to school, while up in England, more and more Rules are enforced to safeguard the health of the children to almost the point of ridiculous-- boys being boys will have scrapes and my sister had three phonecalls when her son fell over requiring that she eventually bring him home. However I note that parents have more become both more lax, spending less 'quality time' with children but also more aggressive when their child has been pulled up - to the point of threatening the Teacher attempting to enforce discipline.
In both the examples-- it is a throwback to the bygone days when children would simply run out and play with other children in the street-- I certainly did, when I had got bored with re-reading my books - but it is important to note that that was in the days when there were a lot fewer cars on the road and people who drove them seemed to be of a more sober disposition!
As for splooshing a stranger-- we wouldn't have dreamed of it - pelting a water-filled balloon is an entirely different matter- what I mean it was automatic that you respected if someone you knew didn't want to play but leading an assault on a stranger was pretty much out of the question for us- though there were some street people KNEW not to venture on if they wanted to keep their clothes intact.
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