Parents falling into 'mollycoddling' trap 

A visiting British childcare expert says caring Kiwi parents are falling into the trap of creating 'cotton wool kids'; warning parents that they maybe projecting their own fears onto the children.

Childhood consultant Tim Gill says while it's important to keep children safe, New Zealand children may be missing out on vital life skills because of society's overprotective nature.

"If we're constantly telling kids you can't do that it's too dangerous or you can't talk to strangers or everybody out there is trying to get you, well then it's no surprise that kids are increasingly growing up anxious and afraid," says Gill.

Gill is in the country speaking at the OSCAR Foundation's annual conference in Auckland. The conference is for those who run holiday and after school programmes and some say they feel pressure from parents not to let kids do any potentially risky activities.  

"It's all down to you so I think they're also a little bit afraid that something's going to go wrong," says Sue Winslow, after-school programme operator.

Many parents admit they do not think it's safe to let their children walk to school alone.

"Well it's just too dangerous. There's just too many things that can happen to them," says one parents when approached by ONE News on the matter.

Gill says supervising our kids too closely actually does them more harm than good because they don't learn to make decisions on their own.

"Yes being ready to step in if you really need to but the first question we should be asking is - can I let the child learn how to deal with this themselves?"

He says society needs to move towards a resilience approach, and that children need to learn to help themselves and learn to bounce back from the unexpected.

Adding that otherwise, there is a danger children will grow up not knowing how to deal with common social situations.

Gill, whose book No Fear: Growing Up In A Risk-Averse Society, was well-received in the early childhood field, says anxiety about what can be dangerous to children is one of the key aspects of the 'mollycoddling'.

He gives the example of an early years' nursery with a tree in the garden, which inspectors said would have to be cut down for safety reasons.

In 2002, Gill was seconded to Whitehall to lead the first government-sponsored review of children's play in the UK.