<story><title>The Overprotected Kid (2014)</title><url>http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/?single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>__xtrimsky</author><text>Yea I&amp;#x27;m worried about that too. I was raised in France but live in the US, as an 8 year old I used to explore lot&amp;#x27;s of things.
But I&amp;#x27;m not actually sure I want to let my kids do the same, I remember doing a lot of stupid things too and I&amp;#x27;m not sure any of this freedom taught me anything:&lt;p&gt;- touching dog poop to enter a &amp;quot;ninja&amp;quot; club&lt;p&gt;- entering many private properties&lt;p&gt;- climbing dangerously high trees&lt;p&gt;- crossing quadruple railroad tracks with TGVs passing on them.&lt;p&gt;- putting my head next to a passing TGV (about 2 feet away), just to see how it feels and be scared&lt;p&gt;- jumping off high ledges to see how far I can fall without hurting myself.&lt;p&gt;- walking near ledges with a 2 story drop.&lt;p&gt;- playing with explosive fireworks, big enough to blow up a couple of fingers. I could just buy these as a kid in France.&lt;p&gt;This is just a small list, and I was honestly a very quiet, calm kid. I just had an active friend.
And as I said, I don&amp;#x27;t remember this teaching me anything.&lt;p&gt;Whereas I remember spending time programming (visual programming) at 8 years old, and that was awesome and taught me a lot.</text></item><item><author>chrisBob</author><text>As the proud parent of a 3 month old, my concern is that exposing my daughter to small risks as she grows up could end in me going to jail. My wife and I joke that our kid isn&amp;#x27;t allowed to walk to the park alone until she can outrun the cops. Short of moving to Europe I am not sure how to make sure it is safe to let my child roam alone when she is an 8 year old. I am not concerned about her safety exactly, but some asshole calling the police is a very real and serious threat to our family.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/decision-in-free-range-case-does-not-end-debate-about-parenting-and-safety/2015/03/02/5a919454-c04d-11e4-ad5c-3b8ce89f1b89_story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;local&amp;#x2F;education&amp;#x2F;decision-in-fr...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mrgriscom</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s easy to say in retrospect &amp;quot;those didn&amp;#x27;t teach me anything&amp;quot; but hard to imagine what you&amp;#x27;d actually be like without those experiences.&lt;p&gt;Ever seen this episode? &lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestry_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Tapestry_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_G...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The Overprotected Kid (2014)</title><url>http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/?single_page=true</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>__xtrimsky</author><text>Yea I&amp;#x27;m worried about that too. I was raised in France but live in the US, as an 8 year old I used to explore lot&amp;#x27;s of things.
But I&amp;#x27;m not actually sure I want to let my kids do the same, I remember doing a lot of stupid things too and I&amp;#x27;m not sure any of this freedom taught me anything:&lt;p&gt;- touching dog poop to enter a &amp;quot;ninja&amp;quot; club&lt;p&gt;- entering many private properties&lt;p&gt;- climbing dangerously high trees&lt;p&gt;- crossing quadruple railroad tracks with TGVs passing on them.&lt;p&gt;- putting my head next to a passing TGV (about 2 feet away), just to see how it feels and be scared&lt;p&gt;- jumping off high ledges to see how far I can fall without hurting myself.&lt;p&gt;- walking near ledges with a 2 story drop.&lt;p&gt;- playing with explosive fireworks, big enough to blow up a couple of fingers. I could just buy these as a kid in France.&lt;p&gt;This is just a small list, and I was honestly a very quiet, calm kid. I just had an active friend.
And as I said, I don&amp;#x27;t remember this teaching me anything.&lt;p&gt;Whereas I remember spending time programming (visual programming) at 8 years old, and that was awesome and taught me a lot.</text></item><item><author>chrisBob</author><text>As the proud parent of a 3 month old, my concern is that exposing my daughter to small risks as she grows up could end in me going to jail. My wife and I joke that our kid isn&amp;#x27;t allowed to walk to the park alone until she can outrun the cops. Short of moving to Europe I am not sure how to make sure it is safe to let my child roam alone when she is an 8 year old. I am not concerned about her safety exactly, but some asshole calling the police is a very real and serious threat to our family.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/decision-in-free-range-case-does-not-end-debate-about-parenting-and-safety/2015/03/02/5a919454-c04d-11e4-ad5c-3b8ce89f1b89_story.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&amp;#x2F;local&amp;#x2F;education&amp;#x2F;decision-in-fr...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>TeMPOraL</author><text>Sounds like infulential experiences, actually. I&amp;#x27;m guessing you&amp;#x27;re not the kind of person that is afraid of everything.&lt;p&gt;I probably wouldn&amp;#x27;t want my kid to do the railroad stunts, but I think I&amp;#x27;ll be totally fine with the rest. Especially fireworks is something I &lt;i&gt;want&lt;/i&gt; my kid to play with. Rockets are cool.</text></comment>