[jojocomok]

Bo, you're not confused!
This is the continuation of the "all men are rapists" extended to paedophilia. The hysteria is because the Schools and councils are terrified of the potential backlash that might occur is something happened to a child when under their care. They do, to a degree, have a point as the damned fol nany state requires them to take precautions against any possability of harm coming to a child in their care.

Personally, I would be loathe to see a child harmed in that way but I strongly suspect the hysteria has a more harmful affect overall than a child being assaulted (may be pporly worded, but you know what I mean). If it comes to that, wouldn't having more adults/parents around give MORE protection to the kids as there'd be more people watching them and able to take action?

It's the same sort of mentality that removes climbing frames and uses rubber foam around play equipment in playgrounds, that stops kids' from competing in sports, that doesn't allow punishment to misbehaving kids, etc.

The world can be a dangerous place and these kids are growing up not knowing what danger is or what there limits are or, perhaps most concerning, what consequences are!

When my nephew and niece were small, they were warned against playing with matches and lighters. My sister found them playing with them and was most angry with me when I told her I knew they'd sneaked them off but when I pointed out that I was keeping an eye on them and they were better learning from a small burn than setting something on fire by experimenting in secret, she saw my point. You learn from your mistakes at least as much as any other way - when I was a kid, an occasional broken arm or leg was seem as just kids growing up, something we learned our limits from. Also, after a few mishaps, we learned that sometimes our parents actually knew what they were doing and we'd pay more attention to them.

I strongly believe that a large part of teenagers getting drunk, getting into fights and causing trouble is because they never learned what their limits were and so they're pushing the limits now, to find where they are - or that actions have repercussions.