5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do

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woodgood

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Sep 9, 2002
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Here's an interesting YouTube video on something many of us already know and probably do with our kids but today's society may frown upon.

Here's their brief description: "Excellent video about letting our children experience some of the things OUR parents let US experience before the Culture of Fear took over all of our lives."

The 5 things are:
  1. Play with Fire
  2. Own a pocket knife
  3. Throw a Spear
  4. Deconstruct appliances
  5. Break the DMCA (Decode a music CD)

These really do seem like simple things that many of us take for granted as a part of growing up. Except for maybe Break the DMCA as it is more of a computer technology sort of thing.

I have a five year old who I already expose to many of these type of things. But I know that there are many in today's society that are too protective of children and don't even take the time to properly supervise them during such discoveries.

I just thought this video brought up a useful discussion topic that many of us may have been slightly influenced by some of the fear of such things that is being propogated by society, media, etc. I think we need to be consciously aware that such influences against such simple things is being influenced by others and that we need to maintain a grasp of reality. Without such simple discoveries that I know almost all of us have gone through as a child I don't know how future generations will have a rounded education.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn_awAPYlGc
 
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I feel children need to do things with a hint of danger but I find one seems to be fighting the women all the time on this :(
 
This past Thanksgiving Day, my grandchildren (boy 5 years old, girl 3) and I built a fire in the field next to my mother's house. Their parents were there, with constant, "don't get too close", "don't throw that on the fire", "don't step there, you'll get soot on your shoes", etc.

Then the parents left and the fun began. Grandpa (me) let them do pretty much what they wanted to. They poked and played with the fire, gathered and burned about half a truckload of pinestraw. I told them "If you don't get hurt it's not my fault." I lay by the fire and just watched. It was a priceless moment when the little girl lay down, head on my shoulder, and said, "I love you, grandpa."

Hey, spoiling grandkids is a tough job, but someone has to do it.
 
My 2 1/2 year old has already done the fire and knife thing although very limited at this point. I'm surprised the appliance deconstruction is on there. If it's referring to taking one apart to fix it, that's a great learning experience for anyone.

The big one's in grandma's book will be riding a motorcycle and shooting guns. :)
 
The author here is absolutely correct in his thesis. Unfortunately, today's parents beat the natural curiosity, the desire to seek out first-hand experiential knowledge, the natural use of our senses, the desire to explore the unknown, the whole idea that things can be known and figured out, and the ability to see connections in life out of children.


Play with Fire

Fire happens. It is a natural thing. Everyone will, at some point, have some contact with it. It is important to learn a bit about its nature and it is important not to teach children that this thing is some sort of unfathomable and utterly-dangerous and uncontrollable thing. No. It is something which has dangers, yes, but can be understood and controlled and used... even enjoyed.


Own a pocket knife

Again, the message to children shouldn't be that objects are evil. Objects sometimes have dangers, but our attitudes should be that those dangers and those objects can be understood and controlled and harnessed.


Throw a Spear

Why not? A few safety precautions and suddenly we can feel and see and experience gravity and balistic trajectory. We can feel the mechanics of our body and see how all of those things connect.


Deconstruct appliances

How does a video game console work? Magic? Of course not. And children should not be taught that appliances are magic boxes. No. We should indulge our curiosity to use our hands and senses to experientially explore these things and see for ourselves how things work. Reading articles and watching videos about it is nice, but nothing beats the hands-on, first-hand experience.

To this I will add disecting an animal. Again, computer simulations, videos, pictures are not the same experience.

And this is about teaching children that things CAN be figured out and understood; this is about fostering that attitude.


Break the DMCA (Decode a music CD)

This is just another appliance. It can be understood.



I'll add one more to the list: make, from scratch, a crystal radio. Start with wire and paper and glass and wood and a bit of gallena and end up hearing music using this thing you made and now understand. Once you've done this, the digital satellite receiver is no longer magic; it's just an expansion of what you already know and -- most importantly -- you know that if you wanted to, you could learn and understand how it works too.

And that attitude, that approach to the world and to life, that everything is knowable, is what is really important here.


Genesis 1:28a said:
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and bring it under control.
Click to expand...

This is all about an attitude that says that we can understand and bring the creation under control instead of seeing it as a dangerous mystery that will control us.
 
For reference there are many women out there who do allow their kids to do all those things and more. You just have to look. ;) In fact most of the mom's I hang out will would be fine with all but the knives and driving (I haven't brought them over to the dark side yet ... although there are a few in the group who's kids have swords).
My daughter has done all of the list but the first part of number 5 (but I am sure that will happen soon enough).
My daughter has owned her own knives (and handled them) since she was two (she has quite the collect now). She regularly plays with fire (built her own fire ring and uses it every time we bbq). Just to name a few things.​
The only thing I don't allow her to do that I did is ride without a seat belt. That just seems too dangerous in the city we live in (now when she is in the county out in the field I do believe she should be in the back of the pick up bed or driving the pickup). ;)
Stacy
 
That is a really great video but it's a shame that we have gotten to a point where someone can make a video that tells people these are things they should let a kid do.Growing up on a farm in the 1960s,my parents would have been thrown in jail in todays world for letting me act the way I did.Fire really wasn't a big deal,the buildings that were heated were all heated with fire,either wood or coal,I was lighting fires on my own by the time I was 8.Sure kids got hurt,I can only think of one that died but at least we weren't shooting each other and we were taught to respect things that could hurt us,not fear them.;)
 
I do like the addition of dissecting an animal. It is so neat to show how all the internal organs are connected and similar from fish to mammal!
And to add to the crystal radio is the homemade battery and lemon light!
Also you are right about the shooting and knives not being evil. We have raised our daughter with the idea that knowledge is better then fear.
Stacy
Whose daughter has done all of the above (I can't tell her no if I am doing it in front of her)
 
add shoot a gun to that list. My wife who is a teacher and very anti gun even agreed with me. That she would rather have our boys learn respect and proper use of a firearm from their father than to kill someone or themselves by fooling around with a handgun in their buddies dads bedroom closet or night stand.
 
Heck,I was driving tractors by the time I was 10,I got my first set of wrenches when I was 12 and shortly after I got my first car and motorcycle and proceeded to start "fixing things",including tractors.My kids were driving go karts around the yard by the time they were about 5 or 6 and were racing them at 12,they've all shot guns and learned about fire and they do pretty well fixing things although they do call me for advice pretty often.Now it's time to start with the grandkids,actually the oldest grandson is riding a 4 wheeler already,he's 6,this summer it's time for a go kart and some tools.I think his little sister is ready to learn to drive also,she's 4.
 
Ren the devils trailboss said:
add shoot a gun to that list. My wife who is a teacher and very anti gun even agreed with me. That she would rather have our boys learn respect and proper use of a firearm from their father than to kill someone or themselves by fooling around with a handgun in their buddies dads bedroom closet or night stand.
Click to expand...

There's no 2 ways about teaching a youngster to shoot and respect for firearms.:thumbup:
 
I used to work on old cars and motorcycles with a lot of neighborhood kids swarming around. I would lubricate their bike chains and answer their questions about what I was doing. Whenever I would jack up a car I would call the kids and let them each have a turn pumping the jack, so they could say, "I lifted a car, all by myself!" Even a very small kid can pump a jack. It's perfectly safe, but the overprotective get scared of everything....

Whenever I cleaned fish I would make it a biology lesson for my boys. See, this is his heart ... this is his swim bladder.... They loved it. "Let's look at fish guts!"

I had them shooting .22 rifle from an early age, too, and when I cleaned the rifle they would watch me take it apart and I explained how it worked. They had no interest in sneaking a peek at a gun when I wasn't around; they knew all about guns.
 
I don't know about the DMCA. Growing up, I got most of my music sitting around a boom box waiting for a particular song to come on, so I could hit record on a tape deck. Besides that, I agree with the above.
 
No worries with my 4 year old;

1- plays with knives besides the ones I use and make I let him play with my dull (safer for me Bali song)
2- Fire- yep me and all his adoptive uncles
3- Appliances I have computers that he is allowed to take apart & put back together and uses real hammers, drill press, drills and the vice.
4- Dissecting animals –he’s seen me clean fish and will probably learn to fillet before he’s 10, also watches me cook & helps
5- DMCA-ain’t going there on a public forum
6- Throw a spear/guns we’ll get there when we start hiking this summer and likely some flint napping.

The boy has no innate fear just more natural curiosity than his dad. Occasionally have to let him get dinged a little to learn. I tell his teachers “stupid should hurt” and “normal” bumps & bruises are a good thing. I guarantee you in public school he will cause at least one teacher a stroke:D Too bad for the teacher!
 
I was born on the 4th and on I believe my 6th birthday, I got a giant box of fireworks bigger than I was back when they were legal to ship. I was taught about fire and was allowed to go to my sand pit and light fires and shoot my fireworks. I just had to stay in the sand and I had to tell a parent first. I also got a red rider BB gun around that age. I would make sand castle forts and then use fire, firecrackers, and my BB gun to bring it and my army men down.

I was shown the damage and noise that a gun makes when I was just old enough to walk. My dad filled up a gallon milk jug and shot it with a 44 mag and didn't cover my ears. The noise and the exploding milk jug were a lesson not to touch a gun as they were dangerous. In the next few years I was shown how to handle a gun. In the early 90's there was a serial killer in our town. My dad let someone he worked with borrow a gun and I was 12 and taught his family (with some help from my dad) how to shoot the different guns. He was offered different hand guns and shotguns to defend their home and ended up borrowing a 38 revolver because his 2 teenage girls could shoot it. I showed them how to shoot each gun and his coworker was amazed because I don't think he had ever handled a gun until that point.

I am also getting to a point where I can see myself married and starting to have kids within the next few years. I will allow them to do just about anything I do within reason. If I do have kids they will be right there with me doing anything they want to learn about. My girl friend has 2 nieces and both just had birthdays turning 2 and 4. The older one has sat in my lap and helped drive a 4 wheeler, truck, and airboat. I don't think either of her parents have done any of those things and I'm sure would have freaked if they new she was going to be riding them. But when we are watching them they don't have a say and the parents just get to hear about how much fun they had afterwards. They always talk about things they did with us for weeks afterwards and sometimes the parents have to call us to figure out what they are talking about. I don't think they mind because they see how much the kids enjoyed it and they know we are safe with them and they are having great experiences. A lot of times their grandma is with us and I think she has just as much fun as the kids do.

Also, both kids now have flashlights because they would see me with mine and talked about them all the time so I got them one for their Birthdays. The oldest said she wants a pocket knife because I have one. I might look for a hobo knife with a fork/spoon/knife for her to carry around.

Whoever makes redneck jokes just doesn't like to have fun!
 
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