Cotton-wool parenting

Saw an article in our local paper today about a complaint made to a School, by a Mother of two girls who are students at that school...

The two girls had to do "yard duty" and pick up rubbish (paper mostly, apparently) at lunchtime.

The Mother was complaining because the girls were not given gloves to wear.

Floods of responses came in about it; mostly along the lines of "harden up", and "get rid of the cotton wool" etc.

I felt the same to be honest. I have 3 kids and we get em out into the wilderness and scrub around at every opportunity....good for the immune system and all that.

It seems that parents are getting way too precious about their kids when you hear stuff like this; get 'em out and get 'em in the dirt....get em out on the farm and so on and so forth.

What do you think?
 
i think kids need to be taught OH&S from the start, so the mother is right.
they'll find plenty of germs for their immune system elsewhere
 
I felt the same to be honest. I have 3 kids and we get em out into the wilderness and scrub around at every opportunity....good for the immune system and all that.
... get 'em out and get 'em in the dirt....get em out on the farm and so on and so forth.

That's what made us stronger, healthier, bigger, happier and better-looking. :)
 
They should have to do a short 3 week course on handling rubbish - RPR course, Responsible Rubbish removal. A warning sign should be erected near where they are working while picking up rubbish, A traffic control officer needs to be present to stop over children from running in their way. They also need a full body suit, face masks, work boots and a supervising adult present. Don't forget the needle stick disposal unit to remove syringes used by other drug using students - will need training in need stick first aid too.
 
A kid at school being asked to pick up some paper from the playground is a bit different to a person professionally cleaning for a living.

the way i see it they weren't ask to pick up a piece of paper, they were ask to clean the yard from whatever rubbish is there.
the fact that they don't get paid for it, doesn't mean they shouldn't use the right tools/protection

we need to compare apples with apples here. if the professional cleaner was asked to do the same duty, they would use gloves. no reason kids shouldn't use them just because they aren't professional cleaners
 
I agree with the mother in this case. I did plenty of emu parade when I was a kid but I had no allergies. I pre-emptively banned all schools from having one of my kids participate due to his extreme dairy allergy. He was told to tell any teacher to ring me to discuss if it was an issue- which in 12 years it never was. Was I over-reacting? I don't think so given that the last time dairy got into his system (product liability litigation-successfully resolved) emergency medical attention with adrenaline medication was administered .
If I'm paying school fees-which I was, I don't want to be paying for cleaning up after some one else's kid (I know it wasn't my kid making the mess- he couldn't eat anything from the tuckshop). I think the issue is a bit wider than over protective parenting and if there is cleaning then supply the kids gloves- or perhaps just hire a cleaner at $20/hr.
 
I wonder if the mother has her kids put on gloves at home when they are asked to clean up.
The other week in the news a parent was suing the school because their child ran into a wall. According to the parent the school should have painted a yellow line on the ground.
 
Could be more about her daughter being disciplined than about gloves.
 

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I wonder if the mother has her kids put on gloves at home when they are asked to clean up.
The other week in the news a parent was suing the school because their child ran into a wall. According to the parent the school should have painted a yellow line on the ground.

Did the mother understand that her child should not have been running?
 
There was a case in NZ recently where two boys - who were on an inter-school comp for rowing - were riding the baggage conveyor belt at the airport thru into the back section.

They were immediately sent home and didn't take part in the comp.

The father - a lawyer - sued the school as it "could affect his son's olympic chances" in the future.

Seriously! If I did anything like that as a kid I wouldn't be able to sit down for a week.

All this teaches kids (and the above story) is that they don't have to do anything they don't want to ... what sort of generation is this breeding?
 
Did it not occur to her that emu parade during lunchtime is a common school punishment? Was she was having a hissy fit because of the "germy rubbish" issue, or did she have an underlying issue with what the kids did to deserve emu parade in the first place? There's not many punishment options left to teachers anymore. That's why so many kids are diagnosed with Adult Discipline Deficiency these days. :eek:
 
They should have to do a short 3 week course on handling rubbish - RPR course, Responsible Rubbish removal. A warning sign should be erected near where they are working while picking up rubbish, A traffic control officer needs to be present to stop over children from running in their way. They also need a full body suit, face masks, work boots and a supervising adult present. Don't forget the needle stick disposal unit to remove syringes used by other drug using students - will need training in need stick first aid too.

Terry, are you getting a social conscience? :eek:
 
They should have to do a short 3 week course on handling rubbish - RPR course, Responsible Rubbish removal. A warning sign should be erected near where they are working while picking up rubbish, A traffic control officer needs to be present to stop over children from running in their way. They also need a full body suit, face masks, work boots and a supervising adult present. Don't forget the needle stick disposal unit to remove syringes used by other drug using students - will need training in need stick first aid too.

I agree, give them a lesson in the real world and the BS that goes with it.

The old natural selection is trying to be stamped out! i say bring it back, we need more idiots to do their thing so we become a more smarterer country
 
I agree that if the kid was naughty she should do the emu parade but I believe she should have had gloves.

In many schools the cleaners have to check the grounds each morning for syringes and drug waste, gloves are now used in many, many places where they were never used before.
 
I agree that if the kid was naughty she should do the emu parade but I believe she should have had gloves.

In many schools the cleaners have to check the grounds each morning for syringes and drug waste, gloves are now used in many, many places where they were never used before.

Would be my main concern too - sharps everywhere - needle proof gloves or those rubbish picker remote hand thingies.

The Y-man
 
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