How can we provide an environment in which children feel safe?
This question of whether and how much the
adult world is able to assist children to
feel safe is not being asked frequently enough. Instead, we are putting too much effort onto providing a ‘safe’ environment. As I
will show later in the essay, a safe environment is not only unlikely to occur
but also not recommended. However, working together to provide a protective environment is the
responsibility of the adult world, along with assisting children to feel
safe. By focusing their efforts towards
equipping the children with essential life skills that will help them be safe
and in control in any kind of environment, the adult world, including parents
and practitioners will empower children to live a happy, secure and as self
reliant as possible, childhood.
This essay is written from the perspective
of a parent with two children aged 4 and 5. I will focus my answer on children
that are cared for by their own families and that, despite living in an atmosphere
of relative safety and protection, are not feeling safe on their own, outside
the family home.
I will start my answer with defining terms
such as ‘adult world’ and exploring the differences between ‘safe environment’
and ‘protective environment’; the meanings of ‘safe’:
‘being’, ‘staying’ and ‘feeling’ safe. I will continue with describing some
of the ways in which children can be assisted in feeling safer.
The ‘adult world’ includes many agents
that have a role in safeguarding the children and a duty to create a protective
environment for children. One such agent is the government who must provide
legislation that facilitates and promotes and, where necessary, enforces children’s
rights to a protective environment: governments should “implement laws to protect children from abuse, exploitation and
violence … [and] prosecute perpetrators of crimes against children” (Childhood
Under Threat report, 2004). Other agents with a duty to safeguard children such
as schools, social services, police, doctors, parents, children’s
organizations, and the rest of the adult world, must operate in accordance with
the law and, where necessary, influence the process of law making in order to
create or improve the protective environment because this a collective responsibility.
To create a protective environment, the adult world must prioritize identifying
children at risk of abuse; reducing child poverty and social exclusion and
joining up different agents’ efforts to protect children at all times, from
abuse, exploitation, crime, neglect and violence . Although, the adult world’s efforts to build a
protective environment is continuously improving and does achieve some positive
results, cases of children being victims of violence, crime and abuse are still
being reported regularly in the press which could mean that focusing on the
environment (i.e, banning the sale of alcohol and tobacco to underage persons ),
when trying to create a protective environment is not enough. More is needed
and that is shifting the focus on equipping the children with tools for staying
safe. An equipped child, knows his parents and carers phone number and
addresses by heart, knows his rights, understands that should any threat come
his way, there are people and organizations that he can turn to for help, he is
not afraid to talk to strangers but knows to keep a reasonable distance from
them, ( i.e not getting in their cars of houses) and much more. Knowledge and
information are vital tools for assisting children to stay safe. The adult world should ensure “that children know their rights, and… given
the vital information and skills they need to protect themselves from abuse and
exploitation.” (Childhood under Threat report 2004). Campaigns aimed to reach and inform everyone, especially children, about
issues such as domestic violence, bullying and the help that is available for
victims are important. Childline is a
free phone helpline for children with problems. Their phone number should be taught
in schools and memorized by all children. The National Charity Kidscape encourages self
reliance and aims to prevent harm by providing practical skills. Their street sense leaflet “Dos and Don’ts” is an excellent example
of how information can encourage the children to enjoy going out while taking
responsibility for their own safety. Life Education Center, focuses on
informing children about drug and health issues which empowers young people to
make informed choices. These organizations aimed at safeguarding children are
part of the protective environment. Informing children of their existence and
accessibility are a way to assist children to feel safe and to give them
confidence that, whatever the danger, there is help available to them.
The different meanings of ‘safe’.
‘Being safe’ for a child means living in a
‘safe’ environment. At its best, a safe environment would protect children
against other risks such as traffic, bullying, alcohol, tobacco, peer pressure,
dangerous games, fire and deep water, and so on.
A completely safe environment is not
recommended, as it deprives children from exposure to risk and opportunities of
learning to solve problems and deal with difficult situations.
Staying safe is the child’s ability to
deal with his environment, safe or not. Once a child is equipped with skills
for staying safe, he will also feel safer. When asked about their fears,
children and young people reported fears such as: being pulled in a car, being
followed, watched, offered drugs, shot, and attacked by a stranger. Many of the
fears expressed do not correlate with
actual risks. I propose a problem solving approach to childhood fears. Fears
and anxieties are seen as problems that should be discussed, possible solutions
found, best solution picked and applied, outcomes monitored and discussed again. Such a problem solving approach, once learned
and used several times, can become a good habit that can assist children deal
with all their fears (justified or not) and feel safe.
I understand ‘feeling safe’ as a state of
mind that reflects how the child perceives the environment and how confident he
is that he can handle the circumstances he is in. Some children can feel quite safe …in profoundly unsafe
circumstances while others can feel highly
anxious in…relatively stable situations. . This high unjustified anxiety
could be down to lack of experience, insufficient exposure to risk and opportunities
to develop resilience, in other words an excessively protective environment. I
already showed that knowledge and information allows a child to feel safe and
increases his effective safety. What is left, is to talk about the adult’s
anxieties and attitudes towards children as important factors that can make or
break a child’s feeling of safety.
Parents are anxious that their children
could be victims of kidnapping, accidents, abuse, bullying. To reduce their anxiety and allow their
children more outdoor play and more freedom, parents are hoping that relevant
agents will …reduce the speed limits on
residential roads; …report child abduction responsibly; put authority figures
in places where children want to play. As good as these solutions sound, I
argue that parents must reflect on their own anxieties about contemporary
society and accept that eliminating all risks around their children is not only
impossible but also detrimental for the child because such efforts is depriving
the child of valuable opportunities to learn to overcome difficulties, solve
problems, develop resilience and stay safe without adult assistance. An
authority figure strategically placed in a playground for example, would feel
obliged to restrict children’s freedom to engage in a life threatening activity
such as tree climbing. Tree climbing is just one of those risk taking
activities that are important to children’s development and should not be
restricted, but encouraged, Scandinavian countries encourages dangerous play; primary
schools encourages children to climb higher than the day before.
As a result, Scandinavian
children feel safer and are more disposed to take manageable risks, without unrational
fears.
Once I
noticed a young girl alone on a London underground train. The young girl explained
that she got herself to and from school
everyday on the Tube. She knew what station and platform because she had been
shown by her mother and father who were both at work. She counted the stations
so she knew that she had to get off after five stops. My initial thought
was that the girl’s parents were irresponsible, but after more careful
consideration I started suspecting that it
is our well meaning intentions of keeping children 'safe' that actually limits
their ability to be safe. I suggest that
such ‘irresponsible’ parenting should be imitated. The little girl, having
previously been informed about the dangers of public spaces and the ways to
deal with such dangers and taught the way to school and back, was being exposed
to manageable risk and allowed to take good care of herself, which can only
lead to building up confidence, independence, self esteem and last but not
least, feeling safe.
When asked what would help them stay safe
from dangers, only 5% of children listed knowing “road safety and your Green Cross Code“. Many children listed
staying with an adult, family or known people and not talking with strangers,
as ways to stay safe. This shows that children should be allowed more freedom
and be encouraged to be more self reliant. We, the adults, used to have
more right and duty of looking after ourselves than we allow our children. Consequently,
our liberties, abilities and feelings of safety were higher than our
children’s. This is a clear hint that the adult world should let go of its
fears and anxieties, which are statistically unjustified and gradually start to
allow and trust the children to play in the park unsupervised, take themselves
to and back from school, safely cross the street, protect themselves from the
dangers that are lurking about where least expected, regardless of adults’
efforts to prevent any harm and sanitise
the environment.
Therefore, we
adults should ask ourselves more often how we can assist children in feeling
safe. We will find that, in addition to providing a protective environment, equipping
the children with information and knowledge and problem solving skills; gradually
entrusting them with the task of keeping themselves safe; exposing them to
manageable risks; allowing them a little more freedom are just
few of the ways in which we can help them not only feel safe, but also live a
happy, secure and self reliant
childhood. 
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