Child protection gone too far – parents unable to play with kids in UK

We’ve discussed feel-good measures designed to ban child predators from being around kids. Those worthless laws don’t do anything, but it feels good to make children safe with a swipe of a pen. In Watford, England, they are doing more. Unless parents go through a background check, playgrounds ban questionable parents – those not approved by the state – from playing with the kids.

Nanny state to the extreme. Only authorized play rangers are allowed to mingle with the children between the ages of 5 and 15 in two Watford playgrounds. From the Daily Mail…

Parents already have to ‘register’ their child on arrival so staff have their contact details in the event of an accident. But now only those who have been selected for [Criminal Records Bureau] CRB vetting by the council can enter the sites.

Mayor Dorothy Thornhill argued the council was merely enforcing government policy at the play areas.

‘Sadly, in today’s climate, you can’t have adults walking around unchecked in a children’s playground and the adventure playground is not a meeting place for adults,’ she said.

Yup – can’t have adults walking around unchecked anywhere near the kids can we.

What do the parents think?

Mother-of-five Marcella Bergin, 35, from Watford, who has been visiting the play areas for many years, said: ‘It’s like they are branding all parents potential paedophiles, which is disgraceful.

Mother-of-eight Jenny Abbasi, 41, whose children also use the playgrounds, said the new rules were ‘a disgrace’.

Miss Abbasi, from Garston, Hertfordshire, said: ‘I have been using the playgrounds for 18 years and it’s a sad day when parents cannot be involved with the enjoyment of their children.’

Just noticed that Strata Sphere picked up on this story earlier today.