Sir, - With the re-opening of both primary and secondary schools, we again see the mollycoddling of modern kids, including strapping teenagers, being dropped off and collected at school gates.
Do parents not consider the poor example being given to children by motoring everywhere and depriving the kids of exercise?
Do they not consider how they traffic is increased to congested levels by their short-sightedness?
Do they not realise that one simple act of good example is worth a thousand words?
Now, with the yuppie phenomenon of the parent obliged to keep up with the Joneses in the possession and use of the second car, the pampering of lazy kids is reaching new heights.
Instead of letting the kids have some exercise in walking the half-mile or mile to school; instead of giving children a chance to get a breath of fresh air after a day in the classroom; instead of giving them a chance to cement friendship for that extra half-hour with old and new friends walking back home, the obligatory second car has to be taken out of the driveway - in the interests of safety, of course - and the poor little darlings have to be dropped and collected, not 200 yards from the gate of school, not even 50 yards, but as close as possible to the gate, so as to prevent any wear or tear of shoe leather.
God be with the days when we actually walked two to three miles to school land back before our parents could afford bikes for us. Glorious were the days when we finally got the coveted bike and were able to ride to school and back. Most kids have a bike in the garage nowadays which is barely used for going down to rent a video. I say to parents: "Unless you are over three miles from the school, let the kids take the bike or walk to school and work off their energies."
Next thing we will hear is that kids are being given a choice of lunch by doting parents, that rooms are being tidied, that beds are still being made for teenagers, that potatoes are still being peeled for the able-bodied, and that in the interest of security the kid has to have his (or more likely her) mobile phone.
Why am I writing this letter, Editor? Because I almost collapsed today when, out on business, on being stopped beside a line of cars outside a school, one parent in one car was on the mobile phone to another parent across the road in another car. Talk about yuppie! What chance have the kids with such examples of sheer laziness and misguided values? No wonder our kids have parents wrapped round their little fingers. -Yours, etc.,
Michael J. McCann, Crodaun, Celbridge, Co Kildare.