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I like that article. I have had concussions, broken bones and a lot of other injuries in my youth, probably almost died a few times. I wouldn't want to miss any

I like that article. I have had concussions, broken bones and a lot of other injuries in my youth, probably almost died a few times. I wouldn't want to miss any of them. I find it sad that a lot of today's parents try avoid any kind of physical displeasure for their kinds while at the same time putting a lot of psychological displeasure on them in the form of school and job anxiety.

WalterSear 8y ago
It's all about the parents' lack of tolerance for displeasure.
- prawn 8y ago
  Not all. I don't think parents worry about mild injuries to their children (many are learning experiences, after all) as much as they worry about the death of something that, to them, is priceless.
  - WalterSear 8y ago
    https://youtu.be/gGuZVuUBeiQ?t=3m57s https://youtu.be/gGuZVuUBeiQ?t=3m57s
mrfusion 8y ago
Honestly a lot of it is the cost of medical care these days. I don’t mind if my kid is in a cast but I’m out 15k + if they break a bone.
- majewsky 8y ago
  That can't be all of it. The same change has been taking place in Germany (a country with quite comprehensive healthcare insurance), although probably not as pronounced as in the US.
  - watwut 8y ago
    The Germany attitude toward freedom for children is completely different then American one. In Germany, first graders are expected to walk to and from school by themselves. They play outside alone, and slide on giant slides while nobody cares about posted 10+ sign. They are not overprotective the way Americans are.
    - jacobolus 8y ago
      Funny enough, just yesterday some German tourists watched my not-quite-2 year old slide down a giant slide in San Francisco and remarked that they don't have such big slides where they live in Germany.
      - javajosh 8y ago
        There are some seriously cool and dangerous looking playgrounds in Berlin. Many of them have ziplines, trampolines, and other long-since banned playthings. And I see kids on them almost every day.
        scandinavegan 8y ago
        We vacationed in Berlin last summer with two kids, and that place is famous for its fantastic playgrounds. It was rare to see the same designs repeated over and over as you do in other cities, and each playground was more or less unique. As you say, stuff where you balance quite high up, but usually with a softer material on the ground than asphalt so that a fall isn't lethal. I never saw kids fall and hurt themselves, so I don't know what would happen if they fell from the maximum height, but they wouldn't die.
      - wiredfool 8y ago
        We were in Germany last summer and I was amazed that they had a 5m diving platform at a public pool. (along with 3m & 1m springboards). I had my (then) 10 and 12yr olds go for it, because I had no idea where else they'd ever get the chance to try. (OTOH, I tried the 1m springboard and got water in my ear that took days to get out. I'm not as young as I once was)
- dblohm7 8y ago
  Canadian here: it's just as bad even with universal healthcare.
  - taneq 8y ago
    What? $15k+ for a kid's broken arm?
    - glibgil 8y ago
      No, the kids aren't roaming in Canada either
      - taneq 8y ago
        Oh, right. Yeah, that would make sense. I think it's largely due to the ever increasing range and sensationalism of reporting - 50 years ago you'd only hear about the rare incident in your own hometown, and maybe particularly lurid events nationwide. Now a kid comes to grief on the other side of the world and you hear about it, leading to a grossly inflated perception of the risks.
- drdrey 8y ago
  I think there is more concern about abductions than broken bones. I also used to roam free on my bike when I was a kid, but am guilty of airdropping my kid to activities.
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    Do you really believe there are abductors everywhere?
    - garmaine 8y ago
      Yes.
    - test6554 8y ago
      There was an article in the newspaper a week or two ago about an attempted abduction 1/2 mile from my house. Kid was walking home from elementary school and they tried to entice her into a van.
    - flerchin 8y ago
      You may dislike it, but this behavior is a social norm.
    - drdrey 8y ago
      No, but it still seems like an unbearable outcome
      - kgwgk 8y ago
        It seemed like a bearable outcome to your parents. ;-)
    - jcims 8y ago
      It's basically a form of terrorism. Abductors don't need to be everywhere. They just have to be a plausible threat to affect the thought process of a parent that's deciding whether or not they are going to leave their child completely unsupervised and unattended. Maybe if the media didn't have a fetish for covering the incidents that do happen. Maybe if there wasn't a vocal subculture that crucifies parents for leaving their children to their own devices. Maybe if the thought of having the center of your world being beaten, violated and murdered at the hands of a stranger wasn't so mind-numbingly horrific. Maybe then this trend would start going the other way. Or not? Sure parents used to let their kids roam free. They also let them ride in the back of pickup trucks and beat their asses when they did something wrong. There's probably a healthy middle ground.
- linkmotif 8y ago
  Your kids don’t have health insurance?
caseysoftware 8y ago
I have two toddlers and I've signed (or plan to sign) them up for two things: swim lessons & tumbling. * I don't care/want them to be Olympic swimmers but if they fall in a pool or river, I want them to be able to tread water and get out without panicking. * Despite everything I say and do, they're going to get on the roof. I know, I did. ;) So when they fall, I want them to fall the best way possible. As a parent, I don't see my job to protect them from all consequences but to prevent and/or prepare them for the worst.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  That seems reasonable.
- toomanybeersies 8y ago
  I'm from New Zealand, and I'm shocked at how bad some people are at swimming. I'd understand somebody in Kansas or the middle of Australia being bad at swimming, but New Zealand is an island nation, 75% of the population lives within 10 km (6 miles) of the sea. A significant proportion of people couldn't swim 250 m or tread water for 10 minutes.
  - bane 8y ago
    The first time I went to the Caribbean, I was utterly flummoxed to find out many of the locals couldn't swim at all. I've known people who volunteered to go to various islands to teach basic swimming skills who also haven't been able to quite figure out why either. https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2017/0824/Most-Grenadians-don-t-know-how-to-swim.-But-one-woman-is-changing-that https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2017/082... https://alexischateau.com/2016/11/08/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-jamaica/ https://alexischateau.com/2016/11/08/10-things-you-probably-...
    - toomanybeersies 8y ago
      I have a friend who worked as a diving instructor on the Gili Islands in Indonesia for a few months. He said that a lot of the local guys who would drive the boats couldn't swim, they also obviously didn't wear life jackets. It just seems bizarre to me.
toomanybeersies 8y ago
I think that things like breaking your arm are essential to the experience of growing up. I broke my arm by swinging on a wet tree branch when I was about 10 years old. It was a very crude, but effective way for me to learn that there are consequences to my actions. Obviously it's not the only time I learned this, and it wasn't like I didn't realise that my actions have consequences before that, but these things reinforce that learning. I think that learning to battle through physical pain and unpleasantness is essential to learning how to battle through mental pain. I've been in a lot of situations when hunting, hiking, sailing, etc. where it gets hard and it stops being fun. You're cold, wet, hungry, and tired, and it's getting dark. But you have to keep going, because you are responsible for your own shit. You can't just give up in the middle of a hike, you can't just give up when your boat is a couple of km from the shore and you're battling a headwind. There's a certain mental fortitude that you can only build with physical adversity.

WalterSear 8y ago

It's all about the parents' lack of tolerance for displeasure.

prawn 8y ago
Not all. I don't think parents worry about mild injuries to their children (many are learning experiences, after all) as much as they worry about the death of something that, to them, is priceless.
- WalterSear 8y ago
  https://youtu.be/gGuZVuUBeiQ?t=3m57s https://youtu.be/gGuZVuUBeiQ?t=3m57s

mrfusion 8y ago

Honestly a lot of it is the cost of medical care these days. I don’t mind if my kid is in a cast but I’m out 15k + if they break a bone.

majewsky 8y ago
That can't be all of it. The same change has been taking place in Germany (a country with quite comprehensive healthcare insurance), although probably not as pronounced as in the US.
- watwut 8y ago
  The Germany attitude toward freedom for children is completely different then American one. In Germany, first graders are expected to walk to and from school by themselves. They play outside alone, and slide on giant slides while nobody cares about posted 10+ sign. They are not overprotective the way Americans are.
  - jacobolus 8y ago
    Funny enough, just yesterday some German tourists watched my not-quite-2 year old slide down a giant slide in San Francisco and remarked that they don't have such big slides where they live in Germany.
    - javajosh 8y ago
      There are some seriously cool and dangerous looking playgrounds in Berlin. Many of them have ziplines, trampolines, and other long-since banned playthings. And I see kids on them almost every day.
      - scandinavegan 8y ago
        We vacationed in Berlin last summer with two kids, and that place is famous for its fantastic playgrounds. It was rare to see the same designs repeated over and over as you do in other cities, and each playground was more or less unique. As you say, stuff where you balance quite high up, but usually with a softer material on the ground than asphalt so that a fall isn't lethal. I never saw kids fall and hurt themselves, so I don't know what would happen if they fell from the maximum height, but they wouldn't die.
    - wiredfool 8y ago
      We were in Germany last summer and I was amazed that they had a 5m diving platform at a public pool. (along with 3m & 1m springboards). I had my (then) 10 and 12yr olds go for it, because I had no idea where else they'd ever get the chance to try. (OTOH, I tried the 1m springboard and got water in my ear that took days to get out. I'm not as young as I once was)
dblohm7 8y ago
Canadian here: it's just as bad even with universal healthcare.
- taneq 8y ago
  What? $15k+ for a kid's broken arm?
  - glibgil 8y ago
    No, the kids aren't roaming in Canada either
    - taneq 8y ago
      Oh, right. Yeah, that would make sense. I think it's largely due to the ever increasing range and sensationalism of reporting - 50 years ago you'd only hear about the rare incident in your own hometown, and maybe particularly lurid events nationwide. Now a kid comes to grief on the other side of the world and you hear about it, leading to a grossly inflated perception of the risks.
drdrey 8y ago
I think there is more concern about abductions than broken bones. I also used to roam free on my bike when I was a kid, but am guilty of airdropping my kid to activities.
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  Do you really believe there are abductors everywhere?
  - garmaine 8y ago
    Yes.
  - test6554 8y ago
    There was an article in the newspaper a week or two ago about an attempted abduction 1/2 mile from my house. Kid was walking home from elementary school and they tried to entice her into a van.
  - flerchin 8y ago
    You may dislike it, but this behavior is a social norm.
  - drdrey 8y ago
    No, but it still seems like an unbearable outcome
    - kgwgk 8y ago
      It seemed like a bearable outcome to your parents. ;-)
  - jcims 8y ago
    It's basically a form of terrorism. Abductors don't need to be everywhere. They just have to be a plausible threat to affect the thought process of a parent that's deciding whether or not they are going to leave their child completely unsupervised and unattended. Maybe if the media didn't have a fetish for covering the incidents that do happen. Maybe if there wasn't a vocal subculture that crucifies parents for leaving their children to their own devices. Maybe if the thought of having the center of your world being beaten, violated and murdered at the hands of a stranger wasn't so mind-numbingly horrific. Maybe then this trend would start going the other way. Or not? Sure parents used to let their kids roam free. They also let them ride in the back of pickup trucks and beat their asses when they did something wrong. There's probably a healthy middle ground.
linkmotif 8y ago
Your kids don’t have health insurance?

caseysoftware 8y ago

I have two toddlers and I've signed (or plan to sign) them up for two things: swim lessons & tumbling. * I don't care/want them to be Olympic swimmers but if they fall in a pool or river, I want them to be able to tread water and get out without panicking. * Despite everything I say and do, they're going to get on the roof. I know, I did. ;) So when they fall, I want them to fall the best way possible. As a parent, I don't see my job to protect them from all consequences but to prevent and/or prepare them for the worst.

maxxxxx 8y ago
That seems reasonable.
toomanybeersies 8y ago
I'm from New Zealand, and I'm shocked at how bad some people are at swimming. I'd understand somebody in Kansas or the middle of Australia being bad at swimming, but New Zealand is an island nation, 75% of the population lives within 10 km (6 miles) of the sea. A significant proportion of people couldn't swim 250 m or tread water for 10 minutes.
- bane 8y ago
  The first time I went to the Caribbean, I was utterly flummoxed to find out many of the locals couldn't swim at all. I've known people who volunteered to go to various islands to teach basic swimming skills who also haven't been able to quite figure out why either. https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2017/0824/Most-Grenadians-don-t-know-how-to-swim.-But-one-woman-is-changing-that https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Making-a-difference/2017/082... https://alexischateau.com/2016/11/08/10-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-jamaica/ https://alexischateau.com/2016/11/08/10-things-you-probably-...
  - toomanybeersies 8y ago
    I have a friend who worked as a diving instructor on the Gili Islands in Indonesia for a few months. He said that a lot of the local guys who would drive the boats couldn't swim, they also obviously didn't wear life jackets. It just seems bizarre to me.

toomanybeersies 8y ago

I think that things like breaking your arm are essential to the experience of growing up. I broke my arm by swinging on a wet tree branch when I was about 10 years old. It was a very crude, but effective way for me to learn that there are consequences to my actions. Obviously it's not the only time I learned this, and it wasn't like I didn't realise that my actions have consequences before that, but these things reinforce that learning. I think that learning to battle through physical pain and unpleasantness is essential to learning how to battle through mental pain. I've been in a lot of situations when hunting, hiking, sailing, etc. where it gets hard and it stops being fun. You're cold, wet, hungry, and tired, and it's getting dark. But you have to keep going, because you are responsible for your own shit. You can't just give up in the middle of a hike, you can't just give up when your boat is a couple of km from the shore and you're battling a headwind. There's a certain mental fortitude that you can only build with physical adversity.