Hold the front page! Apparently today’s children are wrapped up in cotton wool

Parents won’t let their children out of the door for fear of paedophiles, accidents or social services.

Findings from the Tesco Baby and Toddler Club Expectant Parent Index showed that now three quarters of parents are wary about letting their children play in the street.

Added to this are a third who won’t let them climb trees or walls and 20 per cent who stop their kids from horse riding, fishing or camping trips.

But despite a parent’s natural urge to protect their child from the darker aspects of life, children are being given the opportunity to do safer and more specialist activities their own parents never did when they were younger.