5 Unsafe Things Kids Should Do? Hmmmm...
OK, so we as parents like to think we can protect our children from most major hazards. But some people believe we have become overly protective and risk preventing our kids from...well...being kids.
Here's what Gever Tulley had to say recently on TED.com. I should say that by showing you this video in no way do I mean to imply that I agree with Gever; though in theory I like some of what he's saying. But at Safety4Kids, our concern is a much younger audience--so I really don't want you to put a pocketknife under the tree for your preschooler. But it's an interesting and valid argument for older kids. After all, if you're anyting like me, you find yourself sometimes saying, "When I was a kid, we did _______ and no one got hurt." I grant you it's a different world now than when I was growing up, but still, the instinct to protect your kids is not something that changes with the latest fads (remember fads?!).
Here's what Gever Tulley had to say recently on TED.com. I should say that by showing you this video in no way do I mean to imply that I agree with Gever; though in theory I like some of what he's saying. But at Safety4Kids, our concern is a much younger audience--so I really don't want you to put a pocketknife under the tree for your preschooler. But it's an interesting and valid argument for older kids. After all, if you're anyting like me, you find yourself sometimes saying, "When I was a kid, we did _______ and no one got hurt." I grant you it's a different world now than when I was growing up, but still, the instinct to protect your kids is not something that changes with the latest fads (remember fads?!).
4 Comments:
The two things I disagreed with: Letting your kids drive by sitting on the driver's lap, and playing with fire (though, as a kid I did have adults who taught me how to play with fire safely).
The driving idea is just stupidly dangerous. There have to be better ways to make kids feel empowered than setting them on your lap and turning the wheel over to them. My farmer cousins (yes, I really have them), used to let their city cousins drive a tractor in the field, which I don't see as the same at all. Putting a kid behind the wheel of a car and saying "you steer" is pure foolishness.
With that said, I do agree with you on the younger kids -- it's a parent's responsibility to try and make sure they don't get into poison or electrocute themselves or have some toy kill them, but parents can only act on the information they have, which is why I'm glad you're writing about it!
Yippee! Finally someone is asking parents to use common sense.
Unlike the other post, I completely agree with what was said, including driving the car. I have vivid memories of sitting in my Dad's lap steering the car for half a block. I don't think it was so much about empowerment, but rather pride in knowing that 1)my Dad trusted me to not act like a fool and 2)he was there to help if I got scared or did something wrong. That was a powerful experience for me.
The key to all of his suggestions is SUPERVISION. Nobody watches their kids anymore and both the parents and kids miss out. Okay, play with pointy things, experiment with the elements or try something daring. If you do it together your child learns boundaries as well as having a really good time. You just might too.
Brilliant! It's refreshing to see that not everyone agrees with the saftey crap that our children are all subjected to. As a mother of a 2 year old boy, I know that there will be descions(as my husband says) that we need to pick and choose when to let him hurt himself. Kids will hurt themselves but if we as parents teach them accountability and saftey they will have more respect for the objects around them. We can't, as parents, shroud our kids in safety otherwise we will have a bunch of crybaby adults. What happened to letting our kids grow up the same way we did? I did all of that and I am still alive today (my husband really pushed the envelope but males are a totally different species altogether). Let them hurt themselves and just be kids they need to learn from injuries, mistakes and plain curiosity.
I also agree with the things said in the video. When i was younger my dad let me "drive" that way. It was really fun and good bonding as well. My parents taught me to cook early on and use sharp knives and all the other "super dangerous" stuff kids don't get to use these days. I've hurt myself plenty of times and have scars to prove it but I am still alive and very healthy. I'm still in high school and things have changed so drasitcally even since I was younger. It seems like in recent years the whole safety thing has escalated to crazy at a very fast pace. My parents let me fly a plane (I didnt land or take off though) and I must say it was one of the greatest experiences and one that I'm sure is in the "no-no" category for whats safe for kids these days.
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