A Teacher's Journal: Do We Overprotect Our Kids?

In the real world, our communities have been completely redefined. We are increasingly isolated from one another as job markets shift, work demands increase, and families have less time to socialize with one another. Faces around the block---who would have been familiar friends in an earlier decade---are nothing more than strangers seen in passing today.

Insecurity creeps in to the hearts and minds of parents responding to this reality. Protecting children from hidden dangers---a responsible act in any decade---has become far more difficult in a world with a spiraling number of new unknowns.

The virtual world that our kids have embraced only presents a new set of challenges for parents unfamiliar with cyberspace. Horror stories of children discovering pornography or being bullied by peers using digital forums are common---and little remains as frightening as the stories of abducted teens that seem to make their way into the news more and more often.

Our response---as Goodman describes so well---is to "tether" our children with technology. Instant message and email tracking options are almost standard features offered by Internet service providers today---and if they weren't, we'd look in other directions.

Innovative companies are taking advantage of GPS technologies, inserting tracking devices in clothing and cell phones. Services such as "Geofencing," "Wherify-ing" and "All-Tracking" allow parents to receive updates about the location and decisions of their children at all times.

Like Goodman, I believe that new technological tools have made our children safer. I'll never forget the day when I was 14 and petrified because I'd been approached by a creepy stranger in a van about 20 blocks from home. Without friends to protect me---or a phone to call for help---I ran for my life.

But like Goodman, I believe that we've taken our obsession with protecting our kids a bit too far. You see, we've allowed our faith in technology to replace our faith in our children as the primary tool in our safety arsenal. Conversations about responsible actions and behaviors have been set aside---seen as unnecessary in a world where digital tools seem infallible.

As a result, our kids are left woefully unprepared. They're never forced to develop effective decision-making skills because they're almost completely shielded from difficult situations. "We may be protecting them right out of the ability to make their own decisions," writes Goodman, "Including their own mistakes."

Sometimes I wonder if the more responsible action would be to invest energies in the countless conversations about personal safety that my parents had with me.