Only those with no recollection of the childhood cruelties of the

[keannu]

What does the underlined mean? If you were a strong child enough to protect yourself, then you can imagine children can't be spoiled by rough things to be self-defensive? I'm not sure.

ex)We are deeply ambivalent about children. Our attitudes to children are rooted more often in myth rather in reality. At one moment we see children as innocents and guard them from every real or imagined danger; at the next moment we treat youngsters as monsters from whom society needs protection. Such attitudes serve both children and society badly. Only those with no recollection of the childhood cruelties of the playground or the sports changing room can entertain the illusion that children are unspoiled by the rougher ways of the world. The attempt to protect children from every source of harm or danger will create a generation of young people incapable of looking after themselves. Society needs to be actively concerned with fostering children's capacity to look out for themselves.

 

[Barb_D]

You must have forgotten your childhood and the mean things that children do to each other if you think children are innocent and need to be protected from the big, bad world.

 

[keannu]

You must have forgotten your childhood and the mean things that children do to each other if you think children are innocent and need to be protected from the big, bad world.

Thanks a lot,but I'm sorry I understood roughly 80% of the whole meaning. Is the writer trying to say as children can do bad things to each other, you should raise a child who can protect himself from other children? like from bullying?
In the first part of the paragraph, the writer is criticizing the ambivalent attitudes of parents toward children, and I wonder how that attitude is related to the whole theme.

 

[keannu]

I've been confused, but now I'd like to conclude that the author is trying to say that children are a small world of adults, no different from them, so we can't see children as naive or innocent any more. As we always watch out for adult criminals, we should also pay attention to the possible crime of children, so we should have our children protect themselves from other mean children.
If you have any doubt or comment about my opinion, please let me know.