I have tried to explain the reasoning behind the more secure procedures which out of necessity were implemented in our schools.
Your use of such words as "hellhole", "dark corners" and "excrement" is both unnecessary and offensive.
No one could ever imagine that in a lovely little school in quiet Dunblane such an atrocity could happen.
It changed the security procedures forever but the children continue to learn and play in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
Adults going past the school are quite at liberty to respond to a child's greeting but must also be aware that the interaction between the child and the unknown adult will be noted .
Sometimes you should consider that your idyllic lifestyle could be altered by evil.
That happend in Dunblane and it shocked our country to the core.
Kindly don't lecture me on Scotland. I am well acquainted with it. My first degree was awarded by the University of Edinburgh. For any Scottish guests, there was a college in Edinburgh called Heriot-Watt, which was elevated to university status at some point. I did not attend Heriot-Watt. I graduated from the University of Edinburgh, which happens to have been a university for many centuries.
My lifestyle here is not what I would describe as idyllic, nor is our neck of the woods. But with whatever life I have left, I intend to optimise it. That includes the freedom to speak to any small child who initiates a conversation.
There is a small Portuguese girl in my village, perhaps aged 3. I sometimes pass her by as she is going out to her car early in the morning, presumably to pre-school. At the same time I am dumping our rubbish in one of the local wheelie bins.
The location is a fairly narrow street, and we get idiot drivers who speed along it.
The little girl has spoken to me either twice or 3 times now, all started by her. Basically, I haven't got a clue what she is saying, so I try responding to her in very simple Portuguese, whether it makes sense to her or not.
She adores my puppy, because Gonçalo is adorable.
On those 2 or 3 occasions, she had run ahead of her mother, so the little girl was alone, on our village high street. Apart from me.
What should I have done when she decided she wanted to start up a chat with me?
Judging by 'best advice' offered so far, I should have ignored her completely, walked swiftly away, and left her to her fate.
I checked to find out that her mother was nearby and coming to the car. I checked to make sure there was no traffic coming along the high street.
Here we look after our kids. And our neighbours kids.