Cape Town – A shocking 96% of South African children wish their parents took fewer risks on the road and 60% don’t believe adults follow the rules that they teach them. This is according to an independent study commissioned by leading short-term insurer Santam that polled 1000 children aged seven to 12 based in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban to gauge their views on safety and what they are learning about risk taking from the adults around them.
The Santam safety survey showed that South African parents are doing a sterling job of teaching their children household, road and general safety – but the fact that so many parents don’t stick to their own rules is creating a nation of scared, confused and powerless children. And with children far more likely to mirror behaviour than follow rules, it seems likely that risk-taking will be transferred to future generations.
Asked how they felt when an adult broke the law, one child commented ‘I get afraid and my feet become goosebumps. My heart is sore and goes boom-boom’, another stated ‘I do not feel safe. I do not want to die in a car accident’ and a third gets ‘very angry and wants to call the police’.
The survey further found:
• Breaking the rules of the road was considered to be the most dangerous behaviour of all creating high levels of anxiety and fear.
• Talking on the phone while driving, not wearing a seatbelt and speeding were top road behaviours that children wished their parents did less of.
• JHB children were significantly more aware of safety rules than their Cape Town and Durban counterparts.
• The research highlighted that South African children were taught an almost overwhelming list of safety rules. While younger children start off in life being very aware of rules, as they grow older, black and white rules turn grey and children default to the unsafe behaviours they have seen, not the ones they have been taught.
• The majority of the kids (77%) did not believe there is ever a time when breaking the rules is okay.
• On the lighter side, some of the lesser known rules quoted were: ‘Don’t drive on the pavement, don’t drive into buildings’, ‘Don’t look at the back while driving’, ‘Don’t smoke while there are kids in the car, it is unhealthy for them’, ‘Don’t drive at midnight’, ‘Do not fight with another driver on the road’ and ‘Don’t throw some stuff inside the car, you will disturb the driver’.
The Santam safety survey delved deeply into how South African children understood safety and what they learned from the adults around them. Donald Kau, spokesperson for Santam says the insurer is focused on encouraging the public to take proactive steps to reduce their risks. It tasked independent research company, imagineNATION Alliance with determining how children view risk.
“This is subject matter that is highly relevant to all South Africans. We all know what it feels like to feel unsafe in our homes or on the roads but few of us believe we are causing our children to feel distressed. This survey is about putting a mirror up and showing people how we put our loved ones at risk every day. We are hoping, through education, to show people how the smallest changes in thinking can make us safer.”
On the positive side, the Santam safety survey showed very strong results with regard to how extensively children are educated on rules regarding their own safety spanning stranger danger to being aware at a pedestrian crossing. “South African children are very well informed both at home and at school about rules regarding possible dangers in the household, car and general safety.”
However, he said, on balance the findings were very alarming because they showed that South Africa’s role models are consistently breaking the boundaries we set for our children, leaving them confused. “As it turns out, adults are the ones not listening. What this means for society as a whole is that children are mirroring our behaviours, both positive and dangerous, and this is deeply affecting our country as a whole.”
Leading educational psychologist Anel Annandale explains, “Children are primed to imitate the important adults in their lives, and if there is a conflict between our verbal message and behaviour our children will naturally copy our behaviour. Basically, if we want our children to follow the safety rules we have to make sure that we walk the walk as well as talk the talk.”
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