While I was lying next to Stella tonight I saw this link on Twitter about allowing your kids to take some risks. I found myself looking at it through two different lenses, imagining the reactions of 70s/80s parents ("Did they pay her to write a piece about how kids should climb trees and use tools? Doesn't everybody know that kids should climb trees and use tools?") and the reactions of 00s/10s parents ("It's only fun until somebody loses an eye, kids!") I'm a little surprised that there are no vituperative comments, because we are living in a world where letting your kid go up the slide at the playground is controversial.
The piece reminded me of a link I saw this morning on Facebook, full of finger-wagging about helicopter parents. Isn't it a little crazy that we're wagging our collective fingers at helicopter parents? We've created a culture in which helicoptering is the norm, and yet we seem surprised when parents hover. We live in a world where an astonishing number of people think that calling 911 is the best response to a child walking down the sidewalk without a parent. We live in a world where letting your kid climb up the slide at the playground (while paying attention to good manners, of course -- you can be adventurous without interrupting anyone's trip down the slide) earns you a heaping helping of side-eye and perhaps some pointed comments too ("In our family we know slides are for going down").
Kids will learn what we teach them. If we teach them that they cannot assess risk, cannot solve problems without direct supervision, and cannot bounce back from difficulties so they'd better avoid them altogether -- they will absorb those lessons. True fact: this is not a recipe for independence.
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