In Warning: Fun ahead, Peter Hartlaub says, “Safety first, yes, but today’s overprotected kids need to live a little”:
Every time I buckle my son into his car seat — positioned between the side impact air bags and above the antilock brakes in our five-star safety-rated automobile — I think about my preferred mode of travel in the summer of 1983.I spent that season at the Connecticut wilderness home of a friend from elementary school, who was moving from the Bay Area to the East Coast. When it was time to drive the station wagon down the mountain road, his father would often give us a choice: Would we like to ride in the backseat or on the roof of the car?
In retrospect, this was probably a really bad idea. If two 12-year-olds were seen traveling on the roof of a car in 2007, it would likely trigger an Amber Alert, four dozen cell phone calls to Child Protective Services and a viral YouTube video to be played endlessly on “Nancy Grace.” But I’m sort of glad it happened. Being perched on the top of that slow-moving Ford Country Squire was a small risk (remember, this was the pre-Ford Taurus 1980s, when station wagons had giant luggage racks that were practically made for passenger travel), but there was also a reward. Riding on the roof of that car made me a little bit less of a wuss.
The wussification of American children is a relatively recent phenomenon, but a very real one. We pamper our kids, over-schedule them, overemphasize fairness in competition (the score ends in a tie … again!) and keep them indoors too much, to the point that we’re doing them a huge disservice. Kids aren’t learning how to get hurt, lose, fend for themselves, find their balance and discover minor dangers on their own — all important parts of growing up.