In article ,
Chris French and Helen Johnson wrote:

We have a couple of small ponds and haven't done anything in particular
to them. But parents have different tolerances towards these sorts of
dangers for their children, I certainly wouldn't criticise someone if
they did want to cover or fence it off.

No, but that is no excuse for hysterical over-reaction and abuse, which
is precisely what the term "irresponsible drivel" is.

A recent death in Cambridgeshire was because a toddler had cross the
road and drowned in a neighbour's pond. If it had been killed while
crossing the road, it would have had a one-line report, but garden
ponds are dangerous, you see, so it got headlines.

Sure small children shouldn't be left unsupervised in the garden, but it
may only take a few moments for a child to get them selves into a sticky
situation

Unfortunately, yes. The same people that get hysterical about minor
risks often ignore far more serious ones, such as access from the
garden to roads, household chemicals, sharp objects, glass and so on.

We have already seen semi-official bans on yew hedges near primary
schools, evidently by people who regard Hamlet as a toxicological
handbook. Yet the same idiots who promulgated such a ban neither
checked what the actual danger is (negligible) nor whether there are
far more dangerous and common species (there are).

There is similar incredible hysteria about wild animals, especially
from species which have never killed a human in recorded history.
And so on.

It isn't helped by the lunacy of the so-called safety lobby and the
irresponsibility of the bureaucrats, who produce guidelines that are
completely impossible to follow, with the intention of making simple
accidents into the victim's fault (the parents, in this case).

Given that a reasonably intelligent two year old will observe when
a key is used and where it is put, is quite capable of dragging a
chair and standing on its back, childproofing a house is quite
impossible unless everything is locked up at ALL times, and the only
keys are around an adult's neck. And this includes glassware, both
clean and dirty, of course.

Similarly with gardens. Any reasonably determined two year old can
climb most fences and gates, crawl through most hedges and so on.
I know that the modern generation is a a spineless bunch, but some
children still have some initative before it is suppressed in them.
And initiative in the inexperienced and ignorant is dangerous.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679