Would you let your kid do all the things you did when you were young? This mum wouldn’t.
If I hear one more person tell me to stop wrapping my kids in cotton wool, I will be tempted to shove cotton wool in his (or her) mouth.
The latest is a physicist, Clive Neeson, who grew up rolling down hills in tyres, leaping off waterfalls and jumping from roofs. He believes kids not exploring outdoors is “the biggest thing to threaten our civilisation”.
Right.
Every week or two, I read people reminiscing about their childhoods, when they apparently spent all hours of the day roaming the neighbourhood, climbing trees and riding bikes and swimming. Then they try to suggest that today’s kids should do the same.
“We all survived!” these middle-aged know-it-alls proclaim.
Well, yes. You did. Because the ones who didn’t survive aren’t saying anything.
When I was growing up, I knew several kids whose brothers or sisters had been hit by cars and killed. I also remember that when I was six - and considered old enough to walk to the school bus stop with my seven-year-old brother - I dashed across the road in front of a car, and the driver braked just in time to avoid hitting me.
There is no way I would let my seven-year-old walk or ride anywhere alone. It's not so much the fear of abduction, it's the fear of her being hit by a car. I'm not sure at what age I will feel ready to let her do it.
People are always moaning that today's playgrounds are too safe. Well, I used to live in South Australia, near a famous, very adventurous playground that drew huge crowds. When it was closed down and replaced with a modern, safe playground, lots of people complained. What they didn't realise was that people were injuring themselves at the old playground, quite seriously, on a regular basis. Broken bones, and worse. At least one person died after falling from the flying fox.
