OT A favor

Never of -you in particular-.

Just wanted to add my two cents about 'sparing' children by not
communicating with them about potential dangers within their familiar
environment. Kind of "If I don't look and don't talk about it, it
won't happen". I understand the impulse, and there is a kind of
conventional wisdom that what someone doesn't know about, can't hurt
them. But that leaves children with nothing to guide their developing
judgement about potentially untrustworthy people.

Many adults who clam up about the kind of thing that 'we just don't
talk about' aren't really sparing the children at all -- they are
sidestepping the hard task of explaining some of the perils and
ambiguities of the real world, in which some of our relations are
nasty pieces of work, and authority figures abuse their power with
kids who have nowhere else to go, and don't even have words to
describe what has befallen them. Nor do they always know who to
approach for help, or even that they are -entitled- to help.

Deirdre

On Thu, 4 Sep 2003 14:41:30 -0400, Kathy N-V
wrote:

But would have thought any different of me?