Article: 'Risk-averse' parents fail their children, warns head

CHILDREN must be exposed to risk or they will grow into adults unable to cope with work or grown-up life, a leading headteacher has said.

Rod Grant, headmaster of Clifton Hall independent school in Edinburgh, says parents have become hugely "risk averse".

He said it was wrong to remove trees from playgrounds or diving boards from swimming pools in a misguided attempt to protect youngsters.

He said: "Today, we live in a world that is fearful. Parents have become hugely risk averse, so their children are exposed to a back garden - under supervision, of course - at best.

"My plea is that each of us is, in some way, responsible for modifying these deep-rooted fears that we all share.

"We ...

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