It is not that American kids—whether in cities or suburbs or rural areas—are less capable than they were 80, or even 20, years ago. Kids still need to experience risk, to explore unfamiliar situations, to be given the opportunity to face danger. It’s how they learn to take responsibility for their actions and experience the consequences—which plays not only into their physical development, but affects their mental, social, and emotional growth as well. But our culture now treats children both as fragile beings needing constant supervision and as unintelligent creatures incapable of learning to manage themselves. We deprive our kids of these opportunities because it is “neglectful” or “irresponsible” or even “lazy.” Or we put chores and work in the same category as “child labor” with all the connotations that comes with it. Meanwhile, our children’s thirst for knowledge and experience is quashed by fearfulness and uncertainty.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 16:28:33 +0000
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