Chris Hook 7 News
Extract from article
Parenting experts have welcomed a push to convince parents to stop using police as a threat to get their children to behave, warning the negative image of scary cops could last for years and stop teenagers seeking help when needed.
However they concede most parents are eventually tempted to invoke police or other “bogeymen” when confronted with prolonged naughtiness.
On Wednesday, local area command Facebook pages across NSW shared a poster imploring parents to not “make your children scared of the police”.It asks that parents don’t tell their youngsters that police will “arrest them if they are naughty” because they want children to feel they can depend upon them if they are “scared, lost and in danger”.
“‘Young people will end up with this idea that police are there to arrest you, not to help you.’”
— DR ROSINA MCLPINE
“I think it’s a great thing, I really love it, it has an underlying message that will get parents to think about what their own approaches are and I think everyone would have used some form of this, whether it’s the police or the bogeyman,” NSW Parents' Coun
cil president and child psychologist Dr Rose Cantali told 7NEWS.com.au.
“‘Young people will end up with this idea that police are there to arrest you, not to help you.’”
— DR ROSINA MCALPINE
Parenting expert and author Dr Rosina McAlpline said it is important to stress to young children that police are there to keep us safe.
She said using police as a threat can plant a negative idea that lasts into their teen years and young adulthood.
McAlpine said it could stop youngsters seeking help in an emergency.
“Young people will end up with this idea that police are there to arrest you, not to help you,” she told 7NEWS.com.au
“You absolutely don’t want to do that and it might happen for life."
Cantali echoed the point.
“It shows the police to be some kind of bad person who will put them in jail and that then leads to a long term thing and that’s a real concern,” she said.
Comments