The facts are every child is different just as are the parents and everyone has different perspectives on right and wrong and their childs own permitted boundries.
Some will say its being over protective others will disagree, thats generally how parenting is, isnt it ?
We have had others children playing in our tent before but its not im entirely comfortable with because of how some parents can be if the slightest thing happens.Some people always need to find blame rather than accept accidents can and do happen with littleuns.I would prefer not to find out if a parent is this way by having them play outside in plain view of everyone.
Also as a male far too many look at you with disapproving looks if you speak a child,sad but true, and i bet many other guys on here have felt this before.
Fear has many parents gripped unfortunately, the world has changed.
I don't think the OP is being over protective, but it's hard for me to say as we adopted a 7-year-old so never had those decisions to make at 3,4,5,6 ...
I mention this because we adopted a little boy who would happily go off with anyone at all and didn't have many boundaries. On a campsite you'd have seen a chatty, sporty little boy and maybe wondered why we kept him on a very short rein. One or two did spot there was 'something'. We were trying to give him a sense of belonging to our family and having to start from scratch almost with teaching him boundaries and to manage his behaviour and emotions.
So don't be too hurt if someone is a bit funny about who their child talks to, it might not be you at all, they might be a family like us.
As a parent...I feel its a natural reaction to be protective of your children...
So true. Look at animals - a mother cat or dog will retrieve her young the first few times they venture away from their den. It's a very strong instinct.
I've seen a bitch do nothing but go and fetch adventurous puppies, one after another, to the point where the poor thing must be exhausted.
Quote: Originally posted by alibali65 on 29/8/2012so what are we afraid of here , children being hit by cars or being accosted?
If its accosted it more likely to happen by a "family member' than anyone else.
Everyone knows their own children's boundaries so give them a bit of freedom and stop worrying, its not likely to happen.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. My daughter is 9 and quite sensible, at the weekend at a car show she went off with her older friends and arrived back in time for tea. My son is 12 and wouldn't leave our side only to go to the loo and then he told where he was going.
We tend to go camping at the big hot rod shows where everyone looks out for each other. Our daughter arrived back at our tent in a friends car, I had 3 text messages from other friends to say that they'd seen her and was she alright.
On a public camp site we tighten the rules and they are seem to understand these boundaries.