Gever Tulley, author of "11 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do," created a book of activities about how to let your kid have a healthy childhood. Tulley says that there isn't any spunk in kids' schedules; they are too planned out. In the olden days kids would go outside and play imaginative games all day. This is a simple book with a simple idea—let kids be kids.
The concept of this book intrigues me. The ideas given in the book are awesome; I would have loved to do them when I was younger. Children need adventure and excitement. Childhood is a precious time and I think it should be lived to the fullest—experiencing a lot of different things, including danger. I completely agree with the author that children are not as free as they used to be. They are all cooped up inside or busy with the same everyday schedule. This book throws out some good ideas, spending an hour blindfolded being my favorite. I think it is a different kind of activity, but it is creative enough that could make certain things fun, eating for example.
Do you think danger is a necessity to childhood? Will the child miss out on life experiences without it? Is it that big of a deal if they experience it or not? What are your thoughts?
Article about the book:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gever-tulley/dangerous-things_b_881559.html#s295930&title=Topic_01_Lick
I think there is a difference between excitement and spontaneity and danger. I think kids need excitement and unpredictability in their lives, it helps them plan for the future because there is no way on earth to ever be prepared for every thing that comes your way. It also helps them to grow up in a realistic world and help them plan out their lives themselves rather than have parents make every decision for them. However, danger is a touchy subject. Kids like the risk of getting in trouble and doing things they know they arent supposed to. Like we said today in class, when students find out a book is banned they are more likely to want to read it. There are hundreds of examples of things like this. But when it comes to dangerous and risky activities, there needs to be a limit, I mean after all they are just kids. Maybe we should expose them to a little more "forbidden" activities each year, or give them a little more independence with decision making each year. But, they aren't capable of living on their own, so we still need to look out for them and protect them.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love this idea of "let kids be kids". I'm a firm believer in letting kids figure out life on their own (obviously, with assistance from their parents/elders/mentors). I think it's important to experience the good, the bad, and the ugly and learn from it. I don't know if i'm a fan of using the word "dangerous" but I like Jessica's idea of replacing it with "excitement" and "spontaneity". Sometimes I think parents can be over protective which causes their children to not experience life the way it was meant to be experienced. My parents did a good job of balancing mine and my sisters planned activities with time when we could "live more dangerously". I think because of this balance it has resulted in us being a lot more independent and more aware of the world around us.
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