So I’m out this morning with the dog when I became aware of some kids behind me…
“Oh look, a Rottweiler, I bet he’s hard” retorted a small shrill (female) voice. “Not as hard as my fucking dick” replied a slightly less shrill (male) voice. I looked around to see two small boys and a slightly taller girl, skipping along to (the primary) school? If any of the kids were over the age of ten, I’d be surprised.
As they passed by, the high-profile court case of ‘attempted rape’ involving children which has been filling the media recently came to mind. Now whatever viewpoint you arrived at because of the case, or indeed the outcome, the issue that this morning brought to mind was; how well do we actually know our kids and the things they get up to? Does our perception of what they are like (when out of sight) really match up with how they actually are in reality? After spending thirty years as a police officer dealing with other peoples (unsupervised) ‘little cherubs’, I can assure you the answer is… Very rarely!
What makes it even worse is when parents show a blind allegiance to their little Johnny when he has some grievance with authority. Take for example the kid who has been chastised as a persistent trouble maker at school, gets punished and then goes home to tell mum that he is being bullied by the teacher. Mum marches down to school to have it out with the head teacher and simply will not accept her snotty little brat is anything less than perfect. And make no mistake, the sweet little mite knows and manipulates the situation to his advantage every time. Kids can be far more manipulative and devious than we give them credit for… I know I was also a kid once too!
Fast forward to the afternoon and all the lovely little angels are leaving their respective schools. So, I’m walking down the street behind two ‘posh’ girls from the Catholic school. The girls, both in their mid teens and to be fair, are subject to a much stricter educational and more uniform conscious regime than can be said of the local comprehensive kids. The conversation goes something like this…
Smaller girl; “so what did you get for your birthday like”? Taller girl; “I got some cash, so we went down the offy and got a 2 litre bottle of voddy, it was like totally mental, got like totally smashed.” Small girl; “didn’t your parents mind?” Tall girl; “fuck them, they were away for the weekend. We had a party and I got a good shagging too, at least I think I did. Can’t really remember… I was mortaled!”
Be warned… Children can be devious and manipulative. There is every chance they really aren’t as good as you think they are and, they very rarely match up with your expectations!
Dave's Bankside Babble 