Giving children their freedom

IT is difficult for parents to promote their children’s independence.

Before you can figure out whether your child can make good decisions, you have to clear mental hurdles.

There’s stranger danger, for one — the fear of the man in the white van. “When abductions happen, the media plant the image in parents’ heads in a way that makes it feel like a very real threat, creating an unrealistic sense of danger that, statistically, is completely out of whack,” says family mediator, Fiona McAuslan.