Water Wars, Watchful Parents, and Safe Neighbourhoods

Child’s Play

In “Leave the Kids Alone” (March/April), Simon Lewsen argues that we are helicopter-parenting children, who are not in as much danger as parents perceive, and that they in fact benefit from being empowered, age appropriately, to navigate life’s challenges. In Winnipeg, from age nine onward, my classmates and I all took city buses to school, and we thought nothing of taking those same buses across town after school. And then home again, after dark, in the winter. By contrast, I now often pull up behind a school bus dropping off a child right in front of their house, and the parent is out at the curb, making sure that the child doesn’t—I don’t know—sprint off to join the circus? in the ten steps between the bus and the house. At a time when parents are so fearful of children’s physical safety in the wider world, some of the greatest dangers lurk inside the children’s own homes, online, where parents are often far less vigilant. But, hey, at least the parents can keep an eye on them there.

Jerry Iwanus Pointe-Sapin, NB

Lewsen lays out with great care the societal shame cast on those who do not parent their children “well enough.” Yet I can’t help but assume that low-income families are more likely to suffer from this blame than families with means. Living in a lower-income neighbourhood, the level of perceived safety automatically decreases. Families who live in nicer, and therefore “safer,” neighbourhoods have an easier time allowing their kids to walk to school alone or play in the neighbourhood without facing as much backlash—and therefore have more time on their hands to complete household chores, for leisure, and to invest in their careers. Coming from Nanaimo, BC, I feel the disparity of apparent “safety” based on location is something that’s communally agreed upon. Despite Nanaimo being, overall, a pretty safe place to live, the further south you go, the less safe it is considered to be; the buildings are older, and the housing is generally cheaper. Homelessness runs a lot more rampant, and with that comes an increase in public drug use. But I just wonder how much of this danger is actually a direct threat to children versus public perception.

Masha Zhaksybek Nanaimo, BC

Like Oil and Water

In “Canada Is Already at War with the US—We Just Don’t Know It Yet”, Patrick Lennox argues that not all conflicts start with an invasion. What Lennox doesn’t note is that in the same way Trump isn’t talking about oil in his war with Iran, he hardly talks about water when he says Canada needs to become the fifty-first state. The Ogallala Aquifer, which runs from South Dakota to Texas, provides drinking water to millions of Americans and supplies about a quarter of the groundwater used for agriculture in America. And parts of it are projected to become depleted in the next few decades. The heartland states currently withdraw five times more water per year than the aquifer can replace. And without intervention, parts of rural America are expected to experience water shortages. UNESCO reports that the coming water wars will fundamentally change life on the planet as we know it. And we know that Canada has some of the largest reserves of fresh water on the planet.

Sherwood Hines Bancroft, ON