Fearful parents trap tight children

Most parents are anxious to very anxious when it comes to child safety

12/05/2012

Many parents are worried that something bad might happen to the children. The little ones must wear a bicycle helmet, the tables are provided with an edge protection and the obligation to buckle up is omnipresent. Many parents forget their own childhood. Although twenty or thirty years ago there were significantly fewer safety regulations, they still survived childhood mostly well and without major incidents.

Majority of parents anxious
According to a joint survey of the magazine „parents“ and the insurer „alliance“ a majority of parents in Germany (51 percent) call themselves „rather anxious to very anxious“. 49 percent of respondents see it as more pragmatic and say something about themselves, „rather not or not at all afraid“ to be in matters of child care. Fifty-two percent of parents said they had a fever with their child at 38.2 degrees Celsius, even if there were no other complaints such as coughing or abdominal pain.

The editor-in-chief of the magazine „Parents, "Marie-Luise Lewicki, explains the meaning of the study:" We were wondering how we could actually survive our own childhood, without cycling helmets, edge protectors and seat belts. "Many paediatricians report that today many parents with their children for less Due to many alleged complaints, at that time hardly any parents had visited a pediatrician, which seems to be the topic „security“ rooted in society today. "We feel that parents today have a greater need for security“, says the editor.

For the conduct of the study was the „Society for innovative market research“ participated in the approximately 1000 parents of different ages, but whose children were not older than four years old. Most parents say they are afraid their children might experience something bad like an illness or accident.

72 percent of respondents said they were worried that their children were dying. 67 percent worry that a serious accident will happen. 50 percent said they did „rather or much afraid“ that her little ones are suffering from a serious illness or disability.

Many parents actively take care of their concerns and try to protect their children from the dangers of everyday life. A range of safety equipment is used to prevent accidents. 94 percent of parents protect electrical sockets with a protective device. Almost as many (93 percent) believe that children need to wear a helmet on their bike or bike. 75 percent of parents secure drawers with scissors and knives.

Growing in coping with negative experiences
Educators and developmental psychologists see the parents' excessive need for security a little more critical. „Without the experience also painful to fall, children can not learn to assess dangers correctly“, said Gritli Bertram, social worker from Hannover. "We also have to give our children negative experiences and they are growing in coping with such experiences," says Dr. Michael Schulte-Markwort of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University Clinic Hamburg-Eppendorf. "When a child learns from an early age that dangers lurk everywhere, it perceives the world primarily as a threat and no longer as an exciting space of experience“, emphasizes the psychiatrist. Although children should also be made aware of the dangers as the educator explained, but „Self-experience usually has more cognitive value“.

Are parents more anxious today??
The study gives the impression that parents are much more anxious today than in earlier times. However, the results can not be compared with older data because there simply are no comparative data. Therefore, the question of whether parents are more anxious these days remains unanswered, as the parent editor said. (Sb)

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Picture: Rita Köhler