I'm lucky to not be from the US, and so growing up was pretty free for all, within the limits of common sense and your mom yelling at you for not being careful

I'm lucky to not be from the US, and so growing up was pretty free for all, within the limits of common sense and your mom yelling at you for not being careful when you got hurt. The funnest part of it all was using the playground like it wasn't meant to, like climbing up the slides, laying on top of the monkey bars or standing up, balancing on, and jumping off the seesaw. I also had a bike; you needed something with a good suspension cause we'd try to make them jump on makeshift ramps. Or we'd take them down the steepest slopes/stairs we could find to challenge ourselves. We'd even ride them down the river-side through rocks and plants; park it by shore and jump in the river. Of course I fell on my face and got hurt; everyone did. I still have some of the scars on my knees; boy it was definitely worth though. It strikes me that in the US on top of underestimating the common sense of kids adults also tend to underestimate their resilience (then again, sometimes I see the kinds of TV shows kids here might be exposed to, and I too wonder if their common sense is being undermined /:). When you're young you can take hits, a scratched knee, torn shirt, wet/muddy shoes, they're all temporary and not a huge deal. What really matters is the game. Sadly, in adult-space in the US it seems to be the risk of lawsuits that matters most.