is a site I really love! I recently received an email asking my permission to include a comment I had written in an upcoming book. Here's the story:
When I was living in Japan everyone on the street let their kids go to the park alone. My daughters were 3 and 5 at the time and just ran off with the other kids. I followed ducking behind cars so they couldn't see me and watched from a distance. They were all fine. After a week of spying I finally relaxed enough to enjoy the time that they were at the park. My brother grew up in Germany in the 60's and 3 yrs old was the official age when a child was old enough to go to the corner bakery in the morning to pick up the bread. Today, 3 yrs old is still thought of as infancy! Many people still have a 3 yr old in a highchair, diapers and they have never even drunk out of a cup before- all they know are 'sippy-cups.' This world is beyond absurd.
I know of another story where a family traveled to south east asia with a 2 yr old still in a stroller- all the local people thought the child had stumbled across a land mine. When the child got up and walked around they were amazed- but confused. Why would a healthy child need a wheelchair??? Good question!
I know of another story where a family traveled to south east asia with a 2 yr old still in a stroller- all the local people thought the child had stumbled across a land mine. When the child got up and walked around they were amazed- but confused. Why would a healthy child need a wheelchair??? Good question!
When I was in the Philippines 2 year olds ran on rice field ledges one foot wide with up to a 2 story drop off on the other side. I was in my 20's and walked nervously along the edge while they ran past me. I asked a local if a child had ever fallen off and they laughed and laughed. They said the only people who ever got hurt were tourists because they weren't used to it. This is the exact proof that the old wise one said about fear- 'we have nothing to fear but fear itself.' The fear IS the danger- not the subway, the tree, the neighbor. it's only the fear.
I really hope she edits it! Talk about stream of consciousness writing.
Recently, the big sister and her 8 year old cousin have been hanging out at a park next to an elementary school- during school hours- which is particularly disturbing to teachers on yard duty who can see them through the chain link fence that separates the two. To make matters worse they enjoy sitting up on top of the monkey bars eating their snack that they packed. So many disturbing facets of this to the well intentioned teachers.
Our children are so sheltered these days. For those that say it is more dangerous now than it was when we grew up have not seen the statistics stating otherwise. Kidnappings have not increased since we were kids, only media reportings of them have risen 300%. Some statistics even say we're at a slightly lower rate than 30 years ago. Of course it's unfortunate to have a tragedy strike, but equally tragic is locking kids inside to grow obese in front of a TV and never know adventure.
Both of my brothers learned to fly before they learned to drive a car. Plane licenses were issued at 15 and cars at 16. The first time my brothers soloed we all waved towels and skirts from the backyard when they flew overhead. I remember my mom's response to the very concerned neighbors questioning her parenting by 'letting' them fly alone at that age. She said, "I would rather have my kids die doing something they love than hate me for sheltering them out of my own fear." I was 8 and remember being so glad she was my mom and not the nervous Nelly who lived next door with an alarm system sign in her yard. We rarely locked our doors and were one of the few houses on the block that was never robbed. At this point, with the huge success of The Secret and all, most of us understand that everything is law of attraction. But how many of us put it into practical application where our children are concerned?