4 ms·
I wonder about this a lot. I have a handful of similar stories about nearly dying as a child too, as do most of my friends. But none of us have any stories abou
by bhaney 4y ago
I wonder about this a lot. I have a handful of similar stories about nearly dying as a child too, as do most of my friends. But none of us have any stories about knowing someone who accidentally died as a result of doing something dangerous as a kid, even though I'd expect a few of those given how dangerous we all think our childhoods were. Of course, with the reach of the Internet, I'm sure at least somebody reading this does have a more unfortunate story.
Anyway, it makes me wonder if maybe we were more aware of how to avoid danger as kids then we give ourselves credit for. Maybe only at the last minute, when instinct takes over and you cling tightly to a branch when you notice your balance shifting, or clutch your oversized stuffed dolphin to your chest when you trip on the newly de-carpeted stairs directly onto a large exposed nail that pierces through the dolphin instead of your lung.
It's hard to know how protective to be, and I guess I'd rather err on the safer side, where the consequence of being wrong is that my child is just developmentally stunted instead of dead. But either way, making the wrong choice kinda sucks.
- moonchrome 4y agoSeeing how I was the odd one out in my generation (poor/large family in the neighborhood) comparing myself to peers I don't see the value of my undirected roaming. For example I remember having a huge leap in physical abilities when I started takng taekwondo classes around that age. After school activities let me thinker with stuff. Roaming around was just lack of better things to do. Not really seeing what my peers without those near death experiences missed out on.
- ido 4y agoBut taekwondo is once a week. Roaming the forest instead of playing NES is something you did every afternoon. I too have 2 children and struggle a lot with this question, I tend to lean towards more independence and my wife towards more supervision.
- moonchrome 4y ago> But taekwondo is once a week. We had 3x per week IIRC. My kid is too young still but in the next year I think I'll start taking him to judo. Add swimming classes and his week is full of activities.
- melagonster 4y agokids died in swimming every year, maybe they are obvious examples.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y agoAnd drunk driving accidents