Dangerous Things Kids Love: Coming Back to WA State?

There is a lot of internet buzz about this. People are discussing bringing back more things that we used to love in years past that have all but disappeared. All were deemed 'too dangerous'.

But should they be brought back? We all survived some of these dangerous things as kids.

Have we made our kids too sensitive and fearful?

Of course, we want to ensure our kids are safe and protect them from injury. This is a given. But, have we gone too far? That is a question that is difficult to answer.

Risky things we used to love:

*Climbing tall trees without safety gear

*Riding bikes without helmets

*Building makeshift forts with questionable structural integrity

*Playing unsupervised in the woods until dusk.

What playground games did you play?

*Crack the Whip

*Red Rover Red Rover

*Dodge Ball

*Tackle football without gear

*Roller Skating (without pads or helmets)

Some of these activities perhaps taught us to be careful. It taught us resilience, problem-solving, and independence and often came with an occasional scraped knee or bruised ego.

Some argue these experiences should be brought back as they fostered creativity, risk assessment, and a sense of adventure that seems to be missing in today's overly structured and safety-conscious childhoods.

Still, I probably would not advocate for many of these things for my own kids. I think maybe there is a happy medium.

Discussing it though, might encourage us to assess whether we are a little overprotective which can also adversely affect a child. 

A new policy proposal in the Netherlands says children's playgrounds are being made TOO safe and boring. The policy argues that "risk-taking play" can be better and more interesting for kids, to get them out and off their devices.

I rode horses as a kid, bareback and often with no shoes or helmet. I swam in rivers and lakes with no life jacket, and most of the time, we never wore seat belts. ( I still do all these things myself but I do always wear a seatbelt)

We rode in the back of pickup trucks too. I wouldn't ever consider letting my kids do any of these things when they were young although I survived them.

I do however, think kids are missing out on all the fun we had Cruising! That was a blast! We would 'Drag Mainstreet"

Everyone in town would be cruising with their freshly washed hot rod or truck. Scoping on your favorite person and sometimes 'pulling over to chat' Often jumping in their rig to go 'get a coke ' at the local fast food burger joint.

It was good clean fun and would be fun to bring back but with the gas priced so high, it wouldn't be feasible.

So it's anyone's guess. Have we made our kids too sensitive and fearful of everything? I don't know.

What do you think? What did you do as a kid that you wouldn't do with your kids in today's world?  And, do you think some of these things would be good to bring back?

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