My grandfather was one of thirteen children in his family. Only seven lived into their twenties. Life could be brutal and fleeting back then. It's not that chi

My grandfather was one of thirteen children in his family. Only seven lived into their twenties. Life could be brutal and fleeting back then. It's not that children weren't loved as much back then, but when you had events like the Spanish Flu and World War II that claimed millions of lives, events well beyond your control, protecting kids from trivial risks probably didn't seem as big a deal. Kids are tougher than we give them credit for, but they're also prone to do things that are more dangerous than they realize. I'm not sure as a society we've ever found a balance between letting them run wild and keeping them on a tight leash, we seem to flop from one extreme to another.