Safety and Supervision

I had wonderful pleasure of having my just 5 year old nephew Benji come and stay over the holidays. He is a very active boy and extremely well co-ordinated, totally immersed in any sport and unfortunately the rougher the better. He seems to think I am a really good challenge, likes to wrestle me and tackle me and of course I indulge this, to a point!! We also indulged his insistence to go the the skate park as he had been at Christmas time with my other nephew Daniel whom he worships. I think the skate park is a fabulous resource for Timaru youth and young people although I am cautious about when I take kids to visit. Leaving early in the morning knowing that some of the less desirable role models wouldn't be out of bed yet we turned up to find two other boys there. I was pleased as I knew these two boys and knew them to be sensible kids. After having a discussion and almost altercation over Benji wearing the the knees pads, elbow pads, wrist guards and helmet he ventured out. I do need to make it clear that he is a tough little critter, and has grown up in a very physical and challenging environment - where he has been encouraged to take risks more so than permitted in our very compliant risk conscious environment of schools and playgrounds. We did think the risk of him injuring himself at the skate park was high given his combined enthusiastic attitude, confidence and actual experience in this type of environment on his scooter and skateboard. He was reminded how even adults fall over and break bones. Whilst I was most concerned when one of the other boys came off his scooter with a tremendously hard fall which left him rather shaken and quiet for some time, I think Benji realised that maybe the pads were a good idea at this stage. m Given the number of scraps and scratches on them later I suspect it saved quite a few sticking plasters also. So what is my point in writing about this? Whilst sitting watching, encouraging and boosting him along I had time to think and observe all the others who gradually arrived to do the same, have fun, take risks, try new thing s out and watch how the r"really cool" kids did it. I was pleased when I said to one of the older boys who swore, "hey there is no need for that here," that he did not back chat me but simply stopped swearing. What I noticed also was also the number of adults who also came and sat and just watched from a distance. Some adults who dropped their child off with a snack and obviously a clear time frame around pick up. all of this made me feel more hopeful. Because just as we had provided Benji with his pads and guards until he is more confident and more safe to go with out them these parents and adults were also scaffolding and supporting their child at their stage of development too. I also think that those boys that were down there that I knew thought it was quite cool to see someone supporting this little guy and I suspect felt even more comfortable simply because there were adults around even if they were very unobtrusive. Of course these boys have heard me again and again about the importance of role models but here they were being great role models to my wee nephew and it made me proud. It gave me hope because the day before I had observed a group of boys 6 of them, approximately year 8 "hanging around on their skateboards " with no obvious adult attention , buying fish and chips and moving on in group almost "pack like" I felt concerned. To me these boys looked like they would be intimidating as a group ( without even intending to be) and I wondered what their parents thought they were doing, who they were with and where they were? These kids are legally not able to be left unsupervised if they were at home, yet they are out and about with whom and where? And of course we hear it again and again , the term peer pressure. Peer pressure and group mentality when harnessed in the right direction is awesomely powerful however it can cause many very sensible individuals to do some silly things, not to mention unsupervised at risk young people. The best scaffold a parent can give their child is the knowledge that they know where they are and who they are with and what they are doing and that they will check up!!