Are our children too safe?

I read a very interesting article in the New York Times today: Can a Playground be too safe?

Apparently children need to engage in risky behaviour in order to learn their limits. And by attempting to remove all danger from their lives, we are failing them because we don’t allow them to test themselves, to learn their limits, to experience risk and the consequences of risky behaviour.

I look around my house and everything is childproofed – rubber padding around the fireplace, stairgates on the stairs (and leading into the kitchen), locks on the cupboards (even a velcro one), and all sharp objects placed out of reach, and out of sight where possible.

It got me thinking about a TED talk I watched a few years back – Gever Tully on 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do.

He advocates letting children play with fire, experiment with sharp tools, practice throwing things, take things apart, and break the law (specifically the Digital Media Copyright Act!). His talk resonated with me because I realised that I did all of these things as a kid. But we lived in the countryside, and there were days you were as likely to find me atop the nearest tree as sitting on the ground.

It’s something I’ll have to start thinking about, because I know I tend to hold Little Man back a lot, rather than letting him fall and hurt himself. (And he still manages to get bumped and bruised, despite my best efforts!) But if he doesn’t fall and hurt himself, how does he learn that there’s danger? Maybe I’ll start with letting him fall off the couch…I think I’ll have to work my way up to the knife thing. Something about a toddler and a sharp knife just doesn’t sit well with me! I understand the principle behind teaching them knife safety at a young age…but it just scares me!

Source: Scott MacLeod Liddle