Comments on: The Overprotected Kid

By: Sam

Sam — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 08:11:12 +0000

When I was in the first grade I used to walk 10 blocks home from the first grade in Atlanta near Emory University. No way would I let a kid do that today.
I believe it’s TV. TV shows bad things happening for drama. Adds up in the brain to bad things everywhere.

By: Kevin M.

Kevin M. — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 05:33:44 +0000

Anti-helicopter guy here. We take the kids to the middle of a thousand-acre pasture. Rules are no crossing the fence and no teasing the bulls. We fix BBQ, and they can pick some up if they're hungry. We supply them with matches, fireworks, squirt guns, and a go-kart. Several parents have stormed off in a fury, little precious in tow, after seeing the parameters of our day on the pasture, but the kids like it.

By: Buckethead

Buckethead — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 19:31:36 +0000

I have five kids. I’ve got spares…

I find that I grow more callous as the family grows — but still, I was an only child in the 70s and my mom was not even remotely a helicopter parent. It is hard, sometimes, to resist the prevailing mode of parenting, not least because you get tired of the looks from other, let’s be nice and say, “more cautious” parents.

Because calling them obsessive-compulsive, smothering, paranoid safety-Nazis will not get your kids invited back for the next birthday party. Or lead to someone making an anonymous tip to your friendly neighborhood Child Protective Services agency.

By: Aretae

Aretae — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 19:05:03 +0000

I’ve done the transition from 1 to (almost) 5 kids, and B. Adam and Grasspunk have a good line. It’s partially too, an experience thing. Young parents with one kid haven’t seen something happen and say, oh that might be bad. Experienced parents on kid 5 say: “Little Bobby did that. Hurt for a week. Never did it again. He’s fine now.”

Also, putting on my heartless evo-psych hat, with one kid, one has all one’s eggs in one basket, and is more risk averse. With more kids, a less risk-averse, more value-focused strategy is more appropriate.

By: Grasspunk

Grasspunk — Thu, 03 Apr 2014 06:28:29 +0000

According to his autobiography, Richard Branson’s mom used to kick him out of the car miles from home in country UK and make him find his own way back. He was a little kid.

There’s another force at play when legislation makes public playgrounds adopt more safety equipment — they become more expensive and some councils close down playgrounds rather than paying for the upgrades. Kids then play on the streets, more of them hit by cars…

B. Adam may have a point. More kids and you have to switch from man-on-man to zone coverage. They end up all over the place.

By: B. Adam

B. Adam — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 19:06:13 +0000

I don’t have any answers to offer, but have noticed that families have become much smaller. Perhaps there is a different attitude toward safety when one has five kids, versus when there is only one.

By: Contemplationist

Contemplationist — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 19:03:04 +0000

Hanna Rosin back to writing something useful for once instead of feminist triumphalism.

By: Mike in Boston

Mike in Boston — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 18:29:05 +0000

See also Lenore Skenazy's excellent Free Range Kids. She celebrates an annual "Take Our Children to the Park And Leave Them There" Day.