"There is a huge disconnect between how dangerous people think things are and how danger the world really is. There's this mass, institutionalized paranoia about child safety."
The above quote is from Lenore Skenazy, the author of Free Range Kids and, more notably, the mother who allowed her 8-year old son to take the New York City subway home with, gasp, no parently supervision.
I have written and spoken before about how people do an awful job of adequately and realisticly assessing risk (we tend to see risk where there is little and ignore situations where risk should be a real concern). As such, I'll admit that I strongly agree with Skenazy's viewpoint.
In that spirit, I'd like to re-run a piece I posted on my other website, www.jumpthecurve.net, last year. I'm convinced the world would be a better place and our children will actually be safer if we unlearned our irrational fears and, instead, give them the freedom to discover the world -- and its inherent risks -- on their own.
Enjoy.
As a parent, I see preparing my children for the future as my main responsibility. To do this job, I employ a lot of tactics: I encourage them to play; I try to foster their creativity; and I also allow them to fail.
With this in mind, I’d invite you to watch this 9-minute video by Gever Tulley entitled “5 Dangerous Ideas for Kids.” Most of the lessons might seem counter-intuitive—especially in today’s hyper-cautious environment whereby we try to protect our kids from every possible danger—but the logic behind each idea is solid. If you don’t have the time to watch the video, the five ideas (actually there are six) are:
1. Play with Fire
2. Own a Pocket Knife
3. Throw a Spear
4. Deconstruct Appliances
5. Break the Digital Management Copyright Act
6. Drive a Car
The beauty of all of these lessons (with the exception of the sixth) is that they are also applicable to adults who are trying to better prepare themselves for the future. (Note: If you’re an adult and you’re looking for a replacement for the sixth idea, I’d suggest that you allow a robot to drive the car for you.)
