The lives of children 30 years ago were far riskier and more perilous than the lives of children today. It was almost as if our parents raised us all with a “If it doesn’t kill them it’ll make them stronger” approach. My life for instance was rife with dangerous activities condoned and oftentimes encouraged by my parents like riding my bike behind the DDT truck as it fogged our neighborhood to kill the mosquitoes, swimming in the water at the end of our street after a heavy rain backed up the sewers, and engaging in liaisons with French aristocrats.
Today though we live in an age of helicopter parents (for the record I’m classified as an AH-64 Apache Attack Helicopter parent) hovering and protecting our children in ways our parents did not; Which is why when I saw the title of Gever Tully’s presentation called, “5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do” my paternal hackles went up in preemptive attack of whatever unsafe activities he was going to suggest I allow my children to engage in.
Despite not having any kids of his own, Tully contends that children today lead cosseted, mollycoddled and bubble-wrapped lives and should instead be free to explore the world engaging in dangerous and sometimes reckless behavior. As founder of The Tinkering School, where students return home bruised, scrapped and bloody by his own admission, Tully says if you let your children do these 5 (actually 6) things they will become stronger, smarter, more confident and safer as they learn to be in control of their environments. Some of the suggestions are:
Play with Fire – “Learning to control one of the most elemental forces in nature (fire) is a pivotal moment in any child’s personal history.” Another pivotal moment is learning to dial 911 after the living room drapes are engulfed in flames.
Own a Pocket Knife – “Pocket knives are sort of drifting out of our cultural consciousness. In a lot of cultures they give knives to children when they're toddlers like the Inuit children who use them to cut whale blubber.” Using a knife because it’s necessary for survival is a far cry from letting my son carry a blade in his pocket. Should he try to get through airport security with it as well? I’ll wait until a Beluga beaches itself on our front lawn before Jack get’s his switchblade.
Throw a spear – “Our brains and bodies are wired to throw things.” Yeah, like footballs, baseballs, and a college basketball game when your bookie says either you lose or he breaks your knees, but a spear? Well, I have seen some wooly mammoth tracks in the backyard lately; maybe it is time to break out the toggling harpoon.
Break the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) – “Laws get broken by accident and they oftentimes need to be interpreted.” In other words, encourage your child’s illegal transfer of copyrighted music from device to device and user to user. Yeah….screw you Recording Industry Association of America.
Noticeably absent from his list were survive a moose attack, sneak into Victoria & Albert's Restaurant in Walt Disney World and shoot a bear.
Thank you Mr. Tully for all of your wonderful suggestions for how I can stop overprotecting my child. As soon as I get home tonight I’m going to give my son a knife, a lighter, the keys to my car and a $10 gift card to iTunes. Do you live in the New York area? It sounds like our kids would get along famously.
Oh, yeah that’s right. You don’t have any kids.
(Photocredit:www.theage.com)
