There are so many legitimate reasons to dislike the havoc wreaked on the UK’s children by Michael Gove, we surely don’t need to fabricate any more. Right now, school children are going back into the endless exercise in nostalgia and pointless cramming that GCSEs have become: the return to a joyless neo-Victorian curriculum, imposed against the advice of teachers. As a parent, I reap the distress of Gove’s so-called reforms daily. And I haven’t even mentioned Europe.
Perversely though, the gaiety of the nation has certainly been upped by the idea that he neglects his own children. He and his wife Sarah Vine went to a posh do at the Cheltenham Literary festival and left their 11-year-old son in a super-duper B&B while they went partying. The poor abandoned child was left alone with mobile phone numbers, their two dogs and the staff of the upmarket establishment informed. This has been presented in some quarters as akin to satanic abuse.
Indeed this is even worse than when David Cameron forgot one of his brood in a pub. What kind of nonsense is this? Nothing bad happened. Of course something bad COULD always happen. That’s called life. A porter from the hotel tried to get in touch with the Goves, who didn’t answer the phone as they were so busy raving or their unthinkable equivalent of it. They stayed out later than they said. Alert the media! Well, someone did.
This is hardly a crime and the world has gone insane about over-protecting the very children who least need it. It’s not a good idea to leave young children on their own. Substantial neglect certainly occurs. Many families and particularly single parents who work often find it extremely hard to cover every minute of the day. The idea, though, that parents have to hover over their children 24 hours a day to stop them ever being to exposed to any risk or indeed interaction with another adult is barmy.
The law is foggy on this and the NSPCC advice is common sense enough. Under 12s should not be left alone for long periods of time because they are “rarely mature enough” to deal with an emergency. An emergency in my experience for kids this age is having no Wi-Fi.
How might children ever mature though if they are never given any independence? Kids who are driven around, who never walk to school by themselves, who are taught to view all strangers as dangerous, are ill-equipped to deal with the world. The terrible fear that haunts parents of the worst happening and the focus on lone paedophiles has become hysterical. A few years ago I had to have a CRB (now known as DBS) check to accompany my own child on a school trip.
These days the buzzwords are safeguarding and resilience. We might ask how these two relate to each other. Spotting actually vulnerable children is one thing, building resilience is another. Giving children a measure of freedom is surely key to this. The Goves did nothing wrong. Attack them for their politics or pronouncements, not their parenting. I am afraid I have to fight for the right to party … but I do draw the line somewhere.
According to Rachel Johnson, sister of the man Gove stabbed back and front, they spent time dancing to Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines. “The way you grab me/Must wanna get nasty/ go ahead get at me”.
For that, they should go to prison.
