Why to let your kids do dangerous stuff

This is my take on an article by The Art of Manliness on “dangerous” activities you should let your kids do. But I’m not a parent, so what do I know.

The Art of Manliness published a new post recently with the title “23 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do”. I don’t have kids, but who could resist that title?

If you ignore the blatant misconception that parents “let” their children do things–in fact, kids do things and sometimes their parents find out afterwards–the article makes some excellent points.

Stopping kids doing anything that could vaguely be considered dangerous is likely to result in fragile adults who lack the confidence to deal with life’s challenges.

Let’s consider the activities The Art of Manliness thinks children should be allowed to do.

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Unkempt lawn or mysterious jungle?

Child and a puppy in a garden
This is not a picture of me. I’m not a dog.

When I was a kid, my parents lived near a lovely couple with a large garden who rarely (possibly never) mowed their lawn. The result was a sprawling jungle of knee- or possibly thigh-high grass stalks, intermingled with daisies, dandelions, dock, clover, and ubiquitous bees.

In other words, paradise.

A bunch of neighbourhood children used to play there, and it never occurred to us that not everyone was equally delighted by the unmown lawn.

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