> Speaking from my own experience, I really wonder how I would have developed the way I did without being allowed to handle (very dangerous) tools from an early

> Speaking from my own experience, I really wonder how I would have developed the way I did without being allowed to handle (very dangerous) tools from an early age, roamed all over Amsterdam from the ripe old age of 6, toyed with chemistry, explosives, electronics, household power and petrol engines all of which could have easily killed me. Neither, but that does not mean that your parents did not bond with you. Here is what happened in my generation: the time I spend with my parents and family was significantly bigger than most children today. For me personally the reason for that was that my parent took me to their office and I could spend time there. For many others in my generation it was because one of the parents stayed at home. Here is what's happening right now: children enter Kindergarten at 6 months of age or when they turn one. The only person that can tell them what to handle or not is most of the time a randomly assigned caretaker. Note that when people talk about bonding they do not talk about a 6 year old child, they talk about a newborn to toddler of less than two years of age. You're from the Netherlands where there is a proper maternity leave. Not everybody is in that fortunate situation and I assume the article is written with this in mind. //EDIT: also to leave another note on older children: I'm not sure how it was for you in the Netherlands, but parents and teachers used to be proper authorities to me. This is something that is becoming less and less the case. There are brats around our flat that would not even listen to police if it came to it.