Keep You Safe: A tear-jerking and compelling story that will make you think from the international multi-million bestselling author. Melissa Hill

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СКАЧАТЬ I said, shaking my head. ‘It was just unfortunate, just one of those things. And it’s a risk I had to take every day too knowing Rosie isn’t protected. It’s just as much my fault as anyone else’s.’

      ‘How can you not see it?’ Christine persisted. Lucy put a hand on her arm, trying to quieten her.

      ‘Because nobody does that!’ I cried, outraged at the very suggestion. ‘No parent would ever intend such a thing.’

      But amidst my protests, the alternative scenario sparked a thought in me.

      If Madeleine Cooper, knowing Clara was ill, hadn’t sent her daughter to school that morning, wouldn’t Rosie have avoided getting measles?

      And wouldn’t my little girl now be at home making up fearsome scenarios for her dinosaurs, instead of lying in a hospital bed, fighting for breath?

Chapter 10

      MAD MUM MUSINGS

       Parents Not Allowed

       I see a woman hovering under a seven-foot play frame, arms aloft like a wedding guest waiting to catch the bridal bouquet. But then she turns and I see, not anticipation, but outright terror on her face.

       ‘Oh my God, she’s going to break her neck,’ she gasps, horrified. ‘Anyone know who her mother is?’

       The kid apparently in such grave peril is mine – except she’s been climbing that play frame since she was four. When I tell the woman this, she stares at me, eyes wide with recrimination, and I realise that, yikes: this mama bear’s a helicopter.

      A species of parent that is all too common in our favourite playground.

       I love taking my six- and eight-year-old kids to the playground for many reasons: first and foremost so they can play and muck about – with other kids or by themselves – as well as learn to negotiate the world on their own terms.

       They run around, laugh, climb play frames and make friends – all the usual things kids do at parks and playgrounds – while I sit on a bench at a safe distance, chat to other parents or (gasp!) idly scroll through my phone.

       For my two, it’s a space that remains free from everyday restrictions (within reasonable limits). I don’t stand over them or interfere and it seems this, at least to the helicopters, makes me not just a Mad Mum but a Very Bad one, perhaps even worthy of social services intervention.

       Because helicopters come to the playground to be Alert At All Times, hovering endlessly over their charges – coaxing up the ladder and down the slide, bouncing gently on the seesaw, swinging endlessly on the swing.

       I know not every parent is the same, and there’s no denying that it can be hard to just let kids at it, especially if it’s your and Junior’s first time in the place, and you see everyone else hand-holding. And if you don’t, it immediately makes you look like you don’t give a shit.

       I’m also sure no one ever thinks he or she is a helicopter parent, and it goes without saying that everyone is just trying to do right by their child.

       But does more worry equal more love?

       For my part, I’m inclined to be free range because I remember my own childhood and how my parents didn’t have the time, let alone the desire, to watch every misstep or foresee every potential problem.

       Don’t child-proof the world, is my motto. World-proof the child. (Thankfully my husband agrees with me.)

       And every time someone else is horrified that he or I let our brood try something potentially ‘too dangerous for their age’, I wave concern aside with the assertion that aren’t they better off learning now – before it’s too late – to respect the danger of what they are doing and negotiate it safely?

       I want them to try things they thought they couldn’t do, fail, try again and repeat until they are successful. Isn’t this a necessary life skill in itself?

       Psychological studies also show that children benefit from, if not actual danger, the feeling of danger and related sensations that result from activities like climbing up to get a bird’s-eye view, playing with dangerous tools, or exploring on their own.

       With that in mind, I recently read an article about a playground in New York that embraces an interesting philosophy: parents (helicopters or otherwise) are not allowed.

       After the adults sign a waiver, their kids are let loose on a small field full of all kinds of detritus; tyres, a plastic water cooler, pieces of wood in all sorts of sizes and shapes, thrown out household equipment etc., where they do what kids have done for ever: have fun and figure out how to make and break things.

       Given all the stuff lying around for them to play with, it’s inevitable that some of them will occasionally get dirty and scuffed up and scratched.

       In fact, that’s pretty much the point.

       So parents, maybe try to switch off those whirring fret-motors at the playground, come back down to earth once in a while and even consider sitting with some of us feckless miscreants for a minute or two?

       It’ll work wonders for your nerves and you never know, you and your kids might just have some fun…

      Clara Cooper couldn’t wait to get back to school.

      She felt herself nearly shaking with excitement as her mother pulled up in front of Applewood Primary. Clara just wanted things to get back to normal; she was eager to go to drama class again and see her friends and, as much as she would only admit it secretly to herself, she even missed having to do homework. She felt desperate to feel like a normal kid, instead of a sick one who had to be quarantined from her life and everyone in it.

      ‘All set, honey?’ her mum asked with a smile.

      Clara was about to reply when her stupid brother interrupted her.

      ‘Why would anyone be excited to go back to school?’ he sneered. ‘I’d rather be at home watching TV.’

      Sometimes Jake could be an idiot. He just didn’t get it – but Clara wasn’t going to let him ruin her mood.

      ‘Yeah, I’m ready, Mum. I’m really excited, actually.’

      ‘That’s my girl,’ said her mum. ‘At least I know which one of you is the smart one,’ she teased. ‘Do you want me to walk you in? Or…’

      But Clara was already shaking her head. Jake had flung open the door of the car and jumped from the vehicle as soon as it came to a stop. He threw up a hand in salute and shouted, ‘Bye, Mum,’ as he ran towards his friends, who were gathered at the classroom doors.

      Clara wanted to follow his lead. After a couple of weeks of being sick and coddled around the clock (not СКАЧАТЬ