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"... Why Safe Kids Are Becoming Fat Kids ..." There was another thread on a similar theme that is important ... "... 'Risk-taking increases the resilience of

"... Why Safe Kids Are Becoming Fat Kids ..." There was another thread on a similar theme that is important ... "... 'Risk-taking increases the resilience of children,' said one. 'It helps them make judgments,' said another. Some of those interviewed blamed the 'cotton wool' culture for the fact that today's children were playing it too safe ..." ~ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=267048 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=267048 I'd agree with that. One of the problems with not letting people try things is they have no real gauge on what is dangerous and what is not. So they tend to over react to things that are not dangerous and underestimate the danger when it really exists. I added more here ~ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=268065 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=268065 My conclusions still hold ... "There is a downside though. If you do make a mistake there is a pretty good chance you will get injured. If you don't, you will fail to build up the store of experiences that you can call on in the future" ~ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/2730793708/ http://flickr.com/photos/bootload/2730793708/

stcredzero 18y ago
Having overprotective parents growing up in the burbs sucks. You grow up not feeling real. You grow up with this instinctive sense that you're missing something vital. I didn't know I was allowed by the universe to do anything that was messy, organic, or risky. I grew up with the idea that it wasn't for me: That I'd never dance so that someone would want to dance with me, or play music so someone would listen to me for a reason other than politeness, or kiss a girl, or do anything that couldn't be explained entirely in rational terms. I had to claim all that for myself, somehow in spite of my best judgment that it wasn't meant for me. It's a good thing that hormones make teenagers crazy. If I had been sane, I would've just quietly gone through all the motions, and accepted the overwhelming evidence that fate hadn't meant for me to really live. Oh, wait, is this Hacker News or MySpace?
- mechanical_fish 18y ago
  Incidentally, there's not a lot of evidence that the "hormones make teenagers crazy" theory is anything but nonsense. What we do know is that modern teenagers appear to "go crazy" -- for reasons that you seem to understand perfectly well -- and that the polite way to talk about that is to claim that it's "hormones", because the alternative explanation ("many young adults would rather risk death than be isolated and imprisoned in a handful of 'safe' suburban buildings") is way, way too candid.
  - cconstantine 18y ago
    It's hard to explain teenage craziness on hormones when other culture's teens don't go crazy with hormones.
    - stcredzero 18y ago
      I always thought the craziness was just better channeled by other cultures.
      - cconstantine 18y ago
        That's possible, but part of the "craziness" is intentionally choosing things that are destructive and anti-social.

stcredzero 18y ago

Having overprotective parents growing up in the burbs sucks. You grow up not feeling real. You grow up with this instinctive sense that you're missing something vital. I didn't know I was allowed by the universe to do anything that was messy, organic, or risky. I grew up with the idea that it wasn't for me: That I'd never dance so that someone would want to dance with me, or play music so someone would listen to me for a reason other than politeness, or kiss a girl, or do anything that couldn't be explained entirely in rational terms. I had to claim all that for myself, somehow in spite of my best judgment that it wasn't meant for me. It's a good thing that hormones make teenagers crazy. If I had been sane, I would've just quietly gone through all the motions, and accepted the overwhelming evidence that fate hadn't meant for me to really live. Oh, wait, is this Hacker News or MySpace?

mechanical_fish 18y ago
Incidentally, there's not a lot of evidence that the "hormones make teenagers crazy" theory is anything but nonsense. What we do know is that modern teenagers appear to "go crazy" -- for reasons that you seem to understand perfectly well -- and that the polite way to talk about that is to claim that it's "hormones", because the alternative explanation ("many young adults would rather risk death than be isolated and imprisoned in a handful of 'safe' suburban buildings") is way, way too candid.
- cconstantine 18y ago
  It's hard to explain teenage craziness on hormones when other culture's teens don't go crazy with hormones.
  - stcredzero 18y ago
    I always thought the craziness was just better channeled by other cultures.
    - cconstantine 18y ago
      That's possible, but part of the "craziness" is intentionally choosing things that are destructive and anti-social.