Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do…
The Hubby just sent this to me and I saw it a while back. I am still not sure about all of them but he makes a valid point about the OCD nature in which we try to bubble wrap our kids….
Basically his five things are:
- Play with fire
- Own a pocket knife
- Throw a spear
- Deconstruct appliances
- Break the DMCA / Drive a car
I will link the video at the bottom of the post. I am a bit OCD about my kids safety, but not so much about child proofing. I did use plug covers, cuz sticking shit in the light socket is not one of those little adventures you tend to survive. I didn’t do the cabinet locks. I didn’t do that stupid ass shield thing around the stove top that would probably make me MORE likely to spill something all over the floor and scald myself and my kids than protect anyone from anything. I was not careless with things in my house, but I was not obsessed either.
I am a total paranoid in public places with the kids. Shit happens, the world if full of freaks. God takes care fo fools and babies, but most of us just have to know better than to take stupid risks like not supervising our kids in crowds.
That said, carseats are getting out of control. They are HUGE now. FFS i think kids are better tethered to a car than the astronauts in the space shuttle at this point. Was talking to Bruce earlier about this in relation to the environmental crap about smaller more economical cars. Not all of us have a single child or even a pair. Some of us have four or more and that means you cannot own a small economical car unless you want to take two cars everywhere and that sort of negates the whole point and you might as well buy the Escalade you wanted anyway. The point her made was, “It isn’t like you can fit those giant fucking car seats in anything smaller than an SUV anyway. Not more than one of them and now they say you have to have kids in something until 90 pounds or some shit.” I believe in car seats (if for no other reason than it keeps my kids sitting) and I am OCD with the seat belts, but we all should be, regardless of the law.
This guy’s point in the video is we protect our kids to the point of harm because they fail to learn all the things in life we got to learn as kiddos. Yeah we might have gotten a burn, a bruise, and bled a bit, but we learned. Hell, you want you kid to understand not to touch a hot pot? The only way that happens is when they touch it. I am not saying brand your kids like cattle to make ‘em tough, but do not bubble wrap them and make them pussies and afraid of everything.
btw, I still need to throw a spear…
-cut and paste->
10 Responses so far
April 5th, 2008
6:29 am
funny you should mention light sockets…
one of my earliest memories is of me sticking a nail in one of those outdoor light sockets people have on the outside of their houses..the ones with built in covers lol I stuck the nail in just far enough to keep it in place then closed the cover to drive it in all the way.
Didn’t get shocked but a spark burnt my hand ;p blew the breaker tho
stuck my finger in a light socket once too…well twice cuz it felt good. I was 15 when i did that tho ;p
April 5th, 2008
8:27 am
One of the suckier things about being a parent is when you let them get behind the wheel of a car and watch them drive off. It’s been 6 years since the first time and I still hate it. Although I did finally come to understand that I’m not really in control after all.
It’s hard to fight the urge to overprotect, but I accept the main premise, if they don’t develop some toughness and perspective, life is going to kick the shit out of them.
April 5th, 2008
6:46 pm
My husband stuck a knife into the circuitboard of a dishwasher when he was a kid. Blew him across the room.
I was going to comment that he turned out fine, but now that I think about it, it might explain the hair loss and the absent-professorism….
April 5th, 2008
7:51 pm
You got kids? Or did it fry his swimmers? j/k
I try not to smother the adventure in my kids. It is hard, they are all girls and one of them has a life threatening allergy to fire ants. Like moments after being bit she stops breathing. It is everything I have to let her out of the house. But we have to let them explore or what is the point?
However, do not let that lead you to believe they are free to do what they want. We are hardly bohemian. I just want them to be troopers and not afraid of everything.
April 6th, 2008
4:08 pm
Jen, you are my kind of gal. Don’t get nervous, I’m just as married as you ;)
My boys own pocket knives. My girls climb trees.
Only a major concussion put an end to backyard football.
I would never take my child on a motorcycle. heh
April 6th, 2008
6:24 pm
captkidney:
If anyone tried to put my kids on a motorcycle it would get bloody and ugly…quickly. I am clever and quick.
I actually told my teenager if she had a bf and i saw them on a motorcycle i would pull them over and humiliate her to the extent that she would be too mortified to speak and then I would deal with him.
Needless to say, this has not been an issue.
My girls though are pretty rowdy and pretty adventurous. Nothing worse than whiners and kid who cannot cope. It is our job to give them those skills since schools seem averse to administering consequences.
April 6th, 2008
10:16 pm
We just had a pocketknife discussion today. We let them use them, but only with supervision, as we have three of them and we are on a first name basis with most ER personnel. We don’t like having to get MORE stitches.
Deconstructing appliances isn’t nearly as fun as it used to be. I regularly took apart and rebuilt clocks and the like all around my house as a kid and played with my pocket knife all the time (Cajun grandpa and all). I am still the “handy” one in the family. Now with circuitry and little plastic parts, things aren’t as easy to “reconstruct”. One of my boys is building a little robot, though, and going to computer camp to learn how to build bigger and better bots this summer.
Spear throwing? How about Nerf launching or Airsoft gus? Do those count?
The motor cycle guy is an asshole.
April 7th, 2008
1:10 pm
Spear throwing? How about Nerf launching or Airsoft gus? Do those count?
No. You defeat half the purpose. Kids are drawn to that which is dangerous. Give them a relatively safe outlet for that.
April 7th, 2008
2:34 pm
I thought that was what the AirSoft guns were about – safe outlet for a dangerous activity. And have you seen some of the Nerf guns? We’ve got a huge collection and there are some whoppers. There are some missles that kind of sting when you get hit. They love them.
Where does one procure a spear and why in the world would an American child need a chance to throw one? They will throw anything they have anyway. I have three 9 1/2 year-old boys – everything is a weapon. Pretty familiar with it all.
Soon, their father will take them to the shooting range (we like to go ourselves) and teach the boys all about REAL gun safety and shooting. They have already been asking about going pheasant hunting. My husband hasn’t been in a long time (because of the kids) and he and his brother want to initiate them.
I’m a nut about the seatbelts, too. I’m always having to remind them to strap in – it’s a man thing, I think. Even my husband forgets sometime. I feel like I’m going to fly out of the car without my seatbelt. My kids are so skinny that according to the “suggestion” from the safety pros, they would be in a carseat until 9th grade if my husband’s pre-teen size is any indication of my boys future size. They haven’t even hit 70 pounds yet.
April 7th, 2008
11:02 pm
You’ve obviously got things covered and are in no need of spears!
My guys introduced the block to nerf guns and now every kid in the neighborhood has one.
I keep kidding that my kids will be DRiving in a car seat, at the rate things are going.
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