Montreal Gazette columnist warns against over-protecting our kids

WATCH: Beaconsfield snow fort fight

MONTREAL — Earlier this week, Global News covered the story about a fight over a snow fort in Beaconsfield that got many talking about our modern-day urge to over-protect our kids.

Many viewers responded to say that we are increasingly become “snow plough” parents, eagerly moving every danger out of our child’s way to make sure they stay “safe.”

READ MORE: Beaconsfield fights father over street-side snow fort

But is this the right approach? Or is it hurting our children?

Gazette Columnist Celine Cooper tackled the issue in a well researched op-ed she wrote earlier in the week.

Cooper was reacting to the decision at a number of parks in Toronto and in the U.S. to ban sledding. She suggested these types of hyper-vigilant regulations are created, not for the benefit of our children, but rather, to their detriment.

“This adult world of fear, anti-risk and rampant litigation is just no fun at all.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: <strong>"This adult world of fear, anti-risk and rampant litigation is just no fun at all."</strong>

In fact, there are plenty of studies that back up her suggestion that coddling our children is not only no fun for them, it may actually be hurting them.

“There is increasing evidence that kids, once they hit their teens, are showing signs of anxiety. They are scared because they have never been taught how to cope with risk, ” Copper told Global News in an interview.

In her article, she pointed out that Dr. Michael Carr-Gregg, a leading Australian child psychologist, argues that a generation of extremely over-protective parents has “led to a mental health epidemic among today’s teenagers who are unable to cope with life’s challenges.”

She summed is all up with this: “I am not suggesting that there is no danger involved with sledding. For heaven’s sake, of course there is. But life is full of risk. Let’s teach our kids to toboggan safely, give them a helmet to wear, and then boot them outside to play. Frankly, there may be more risk involved if we don’t.”

See Jamie Orchard’s full interview with Celine Cooper on Focus Montreal on Global on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. or midnight.