Why do parents practise double standards when it comes to teaching kids about stranger danger
On a morning drive to school recently, I was talking to my five-year-old son (pictured, far right) about how one can find the answers to questions by using Google on the Internet.
“No, dad, Google is dangerous.”
“What do you mean?”
“One day, you might be doing Google and then you meet a sheep and you make a plan to meet that sheep outside. When you meet him outside, he’s not a sheep. He’s a wolf.”
I was fascinated by his reply and equally appreciative for what was obviously his school teacher’s well-intentioned attempt at an online-safety lesson.
The language was easily understood, thanks in part to the multiple occasions he and I have re-enacted the Big Bad Wolf’s gusty destruction of the Little Pig’s blanket fort in our living room.
Double standards
When I recounted this drive-time conversation to my colleague, about how one might unfortunately make arrangements to meet a wolf in sheep’s clothing, she promptly piped up with: “Ha, yeah. Just like me and my love life on Tinder.”
It then occurred to me that adults do invite the wolf to their door, or at least, to a first date at Dempsey Hill.
This story is from the March 2018 edition of Young Parents Singapore.
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This story is from the March 2018 edition of Young Parents Singapore.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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