The larger question we have to ask is what opportunities for learning and maturing are children being deprived of by overprotective parents who send them for Primary 1 preparatory classes because of the fear of losing out ("The 'need' to prepare for P1 worrying" by Mr Ng Chia Wee; Wednesday).

It seems that parents have very little confidence in themselves in preparing their children for formal schooling. All they are interested in appears to be for their children to avoid any difficulties adjusting to a new environment.

Are children so weak and incapacitated that they need such chaperoning?

It seems parents are perpetuating their own fears by weakening their children with overprotection.

Parents can make a choice now.

Let children face the new world of school with confidence, and allow them to adapt to the various challenges, such as making new friends and relating to new teachers in a safe environment.

Or wait much later to find that their well-intentioned scaffolding has become a crutch that their children cannot do without when they grow up.

Overchaperoning our children is a sure way to prevent them from becoming adaptable and resilient individuals who can walk tall by themselves.

So, kiasu parents have to decide whether they want their children to grow up resilient or be weaklings.

Thomas Lee Hock Seng (Dr)