Released April 30, 2009
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Parents do have a responsibility to keep their children safe. But they also have a responsibility to help them feel safe.
"Fear is the modern plague," says Wally Goddard, family life specialist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. "We worry about terrorist attacks, child abductions, school shootings, murder and mayhem. Our fear is spilling into our children's lives. Based on our talk and media reports, they are afraid."
A recently released study by Joy Burnham, associate professor at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, showed that some of the most prevalent fears for children in second through 12th grades are terrorist attacks, drive-by shootings, tornadoes, drowning and kidnapping.
These fears are often fueled by media frenzies, which afford easy access to the most unusual and extreme doings in any corner of the world and which can leave us feeling that chaos is commonplace, according to Goddard. But, he says, the news of science is far more reassuring than the media reports.
For example, Daniel Gardner writes in his book, "The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn't – and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger," that the risk that any one of the 70 million children in America will be stolen by a stranger is only about 0.00016 percent, or 1 in 608,696, and that nine out of 10 stranger abductions are resolved within 24 hours. Yet people continue to act as if stranger abductions were an ever-present danger.
Gardner also writes that modern developed countries have become some of the most peaceful societies in human history.
The biggest factor into this spectacular change was the decline in deaths among children, he says. In 1900, almost 20 percent of all children born in the United States – one in five — died before they were five years old; by 1960 the number of deaths in that age group had fallen to 3 percent; by 2002, it was 0.8 percent.
"Not only should we be more peaceful and grateful, we should communicate a feeling of safety and gratitude to our children," says Goddard. "This is one of the best times in history to be alive."
Goddard believes kids are probably suffering more negative health consequences by being kept indoors under the watchful eyes of their parents than they are by being outside where they can engage in unstructured play in the fresh air and sunshine. Obesity and related diabetes and other health problems caused in part by too much time sitting inside are far more dangerous for most children than are the specters haunting parents' imaginations, he says.
That doesn't mean parents should throw caution to the wind and give their children free reign to play wild in the streets or wander the town with reckless abandon, however.
Discussions about stranger danger, for the most part, may be better driven by a child's interest, he says. Statistics show that more abductions are committed by people children know than by people they don't, so warnings about not talking to strangers may be moot. And it's unrealistic to expect that any type of instruction would ensure that a child could outwit the most conniving of adults.
Beyond honestly answering whatever questions a child might have, a parent's best strategy is simply to use good common sense. Teach children basic safety information, like how to cross a street and stay on the sidewalk, and remind them to go straight to their destination rather than wandering off and getting lost.
Parents should find out where a child is going when he leaves home, as well as what time they will check in or come back home, and it may be a good idea, in some situations, to have them to call when they reach their destination. If he's going to a friend's house, it may be wise to make sure someone will be there when they arrive.
"But don't let fear run your life," Goddard says. "You may as well stay up at night worrying about whether you're going to be hit by a meteorite. Fastening seat belts is probably a lot more important than keeping kids from playing outside. Good sense is the governing rule."
For more information about children and families, visit the Extension's Web site, http://www.arfamilies.org, or contact your county Extension agent. The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture.
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http://www.uaex.edu/news/may2009/0501family_child_fears.htm
Contact: Lamar James, (501) 671-2187, ljames@uaex.edu
