We're allowing the predators to win

I was saddened to read of the two Old Dears (their words, not mine!) forbidden from taking photographs of a deserted children's paddling pool in their local park, writes blogger Emma Suddaby.

Out for a stroll on a moody sort of a day, they thought the railings around the pool would make a good picture.

So as one of the ladies took aim, a park official, sensing a crime against decency in the offing, rushed out of her hut and informed them that photographing the pool was strictly not allowed.

The puzzled pensioners were left holding the camera, wondering why the rules were being enforced in an empty pool.

Plainly, on this occasion the park official was experiencing an acute attack of Jobsworthitis, leading her to over-react, enforcing a rule clearly meant for sunny days and holidays, when the pool would be full of children.

As we're all too aware, wherever there's a gathering of half-dressed, carefree kids there may also be a lurking dirty raincoat, taking grubby photographs . . . or is there?

You see, I dispute the idea that predatory paedophiles lurk in every park and schoolyard.

I'm not saying they don't exist. Too many young lives are ruined every day to pretend that. But I fear many more innocent childhoods are being damaged by society's over-reaction to this threat, and banning family photographs in public places is a symptom of this sad trend.

Some of my best childhood memories are of the summer holidays. I'd be through that door in the morning and off into the woods to meet my friends. And I'd roll back home at teatime, tired, played-out and hungry.

Now I know how lucky I was to grow up in the countryside, and I understand times have changed and kids today need to be much more danger-aware, but how much of our fear is real and how much is created in our dark imaginations?

Whatever the cause, the result is that children today are more restricted, more confined than ever before. We clutch them to our sides, restrict them to indoor activities, censor everything they may ever come into contact with and prohibit them from dipping their toes in the waters of life, terrified they might get to learn from a few mistakes along the way.

As a nation we're good at not succumbing to terrorism. After the Tube bombings of 2005, the citizens of London went out of their way to carry on as normal. They knew instinctively that the minute they started changing their routines because of what had happened - taking the bus perhaps, instead of the Tube - the terrorists had won.

Currently, we're living by the lowest common denominator in society, instead of aspiring to the highest, and prohibiting honest, decent parents from photographing or filming precious moments with their children just because a minority of depraved adults may abuse this right, just feeds their power over us.

By changing the way we bring up our children for fear of the predators we hear about, lurking on every street corner, we're limiting their chances to experience life to the full. And what's more, we're allowing those predators to win.

• Inspirational Emma Suddaby shares her ” highs, lows - and various murky places inbetween” - with her blog. Emma, a finalist in the 2007 Shropshire Star Woman of the Year competition, was diagnosed with aggressive, destructive rheumatoid arthritis at the age of 22. She later won a dream flying scholarship with the charity Flying Scholarships for the Disabled and now holds a National Private Pilot’s Licence.