Just to clarify: we're really not talking about absolute safety, our five-year old seems to be routinely covered in bruises incurrent from falling while climbing on things. Last month she had a couple of slightly loose teeth due to landing on her face while falling from (adult) shoulder height at a playground :eek:
I'm not sure the kids can process "be safe enough" but that's the intention in the "rule"...
I hate seeing kids get paralysed by fear of failure. I want my kids to try and fail, it's the fastest way to learn and succeed.
It was this fear that stopped me from learning to ski until I was in my 30s and finally past the stage where I cared about screwing up and looking silly. Since then the joy I've felt on the slopes has been indescribable.
So on behalf of those future adults, thank you!
I didn't expect to like this article based on the headline, and the fact that the site is basically there to push a product, but in particular these two points jumped out at me.
[Disclosure: we have three kids between 5 and 11...]
We have (only) three rules for our kids. The wording can vary every so slightly depending on the situation but it boils down to:
1. Be safe 2. Be kind 3. _Try and_ do what you're told/asked.
We've always tried to stress that there's a reason rule one _is_ rule one.
A close family friend in his 20s took his own life just before Christmas a couple of years ago. I was with him and his father in the pub one evening, he was telling jokes, less than 24h later his father sent me a message saying he was gone.
So: be safe, and be kind. Everything else is noise.