Not all adults are peadophiles

A quarter of adults to face ‘anti-paedophile’ tests

Next week “Missy” will have lunch at her friend’s house rather than stay for a school meal, she approached me with her friend and her grandfather in the school yard of the South Shields school that she attends. I know the man reasonably well, he’s a churchwarden, a nice bloke, all the kids love him, he occasionally helps out at school on trips and school fayres, he is CRB checked – he told me so!

“Don’t worry we’ll do it next Wednesday when my wife is there, so there will be two adults of different sexes , well you know, I have to be CRB checked to help out in the school”.

Isn’t this all a bit ludicrous I thought?

Let’s face it, if anything untoward was going to happen, I know where she is, who she is with, and what the address is, and I don’t go around thinking that every bloke who approaches my child has ill intent! My son often spends time at the home of two of his mates, I’ve met the parents and I’m not bothered if they are CRB checked or not – I’m not “risk averse”.

I want my children to have a normal childhood, is that too much to ask?

Do you realise it isn’t all that dangerous to allow your children to play out in the streets and parks of South Shields?

Don’t stories like this worry you? Have you ever looked at the number of situations vacant advertisements that tell you a CRB disclosure will be required?

If it weren’t for the lurid details of a few prominent cases reported graphically by the press and the media, if it wasn’t for their obsession with the headline grabbing sex and children angle, we wouldn’t be in this nonsensical mess littered with wholly irrational fears!

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