5 Dangerous Things to do with Your Child

5 Dangerous things to do with your child.

The link above is to a web video by some inventor-type guy. He feels kids nowdays are overly-protected and it's stunting their intellectual growth. He suggests parents should let kids (second graders and up) do the following things.

Note: he does not suggest they be allowed to do the following unsupervised or without any safety instructions!

1. Play with fire (my personal favorite)
2. Use a knife
3. Throw a spear
4. Take apart appliances (old appliances!)
5. Drive a car

-Blast

Thanks for the link Blast.

Thinking back to my youth these are all things I did at a young age and Yes I am over-protective with my children.

I may have to loosen-up a little!

Mike

I think it is important to satisfy kids curiosity (under supervision). Let em chop wood (actually use that christmas
hatchet), start fires, shoot a bow and arrow or 22. Let em
do it enough it is no longer such an unresistable draw they
will try it out secretly. Make sure they get good training
and enough knowledge.

These things can also be rewards for responsible behaviors.

I know that I did not do all of but one of these things before I was 11. I didn't drive until I was 14, but I drove a stick shift on my 14th birthday. Appliance destruction was something I started on at a young age, pre-kindergarten.

I've posted elsewhere about giving SAKs to 4 boys this year, ages 10-13. Their mother of course had to mention the possibility of them stabbing each other. You simply do not learn how to do things until you are allowed to try them. I see the 12-year old, and I remember myself at that age, and the gap is tremendous, and he is most mature of the bunch. At 12, owning a knife was not a novelty to me, and the idea of mentioning stabbing was something I frowned on by them as immature. It seems to me very much like the reaction we have in the U.S. with drinking. A 21-year old suddenly with the restrictions off is often a drunken menace. In Europe, without the restrictions, the novelty has passed.

Actually, throwing a spear has some very definate advantages. It's been proven that humans are hardwired for throwing stuff. By throwing a spear at targets (stationary and moving) we not only strengthen the parts of our brains that control eye/hand coordination but also our problem solving and predictive skills. There's a lot of physics and geometry involved in throwing a spear which the thrower can actually see clearly (velocity, parabolic arcs and the such). Shooting a gun doesn't give the same "deep brain" workout as it happens to quickly for the brain to follow.

-Blast

Check out "The Dangerous Book for Boys".

JimJr

I bought that book, for the same kids mentioned above.

A woman I used to work with has a son who is ten years old, and she is teaching him to drive (his dad is a diabetic and they live out in the sticks). He already has his own hatchet and has been taught how to handle it safely. He has a decent-sized fixed blade knife. He makes his own spears and once managed to spear a fish (he was very proud). He finds old appliances in trash occasionally, and brings them home so his dad can show him how they work.

But more important than that, they've taught him to think for himself. He learned the hard way that listening to advice from a peer that he KNOWS is bad, is going to have poor results.

He also has a small pet-sitting business (although dad goes along just to make sure he locks up and that nothing appears to be wrong at the house).

I wish more parents put more thought into raising their children. Poor kids...

Sue

Please excuse me for a moment while I climb up on soapbox here:

This whole topic is a particular pet peeve for me and I believe that way too many kids today are totally overprotected...with most GenX and GenY kids having parents that literally "hover" over them. Example; I recently observed a high school senior student whose mother regularly carried his books to class for him (no, he was not disabled and he was on a sports team for the school) and he DID NOT carry anything himself. My son informed us that this kid has had this type of service for several years. This is on top of being driven 1/2 mile to and from school.

Sadly, I've also heard first hand stories about parents taking their 18 & 19 year old kids to job interviews and answering the questions for them. Call me old fashioned or whatever, but this is in my opinion a very telling negative trend for our upcoming adults.

These kids (for the most part) have no concept of where north is or how to read a street map. Before getting out of elementary school, each of my brothers and sisters knew how to find north and had a basic knowledge of map reading which was a result of going on various car trips and being trusted to hold the road map and follow the cars path and be able to answer questions such as "Where will we turn next? Which way will we turn?". These questions soon gave way to time / speed / distance questions to determine ETA's. I was amazed when I got in junior and high school and many of the other kids did not know how to read a map legend.

My brother (a scoutmaster now for about the past 15 years) is also very frustrated with many of the kids that come in and have no clue regarding what we grew up with known as "common sense" or personal responsibility. When some of the parents found out that he was showing kids how to handle a knife they were outraged. Likewise when they found out that hikes in the Everglades did not have air-conditioned bathrooms in the boonies many were shocked that the kids would be told to "go behind the bush and bury it". Sadly this list goes on...

When we did something stupid as kids(i.e. ride on the bicycle handlebars and the bike took a tumble and we got cuts / bruises / scrapes etc., then we fully expected to hear, and were told that it was not a smart thing to do. We took personal ownership of the event, did not go around blaming others or faulty bikes etc. When we were kids, we learned before third grade how to repair bicycle tires and successfully use both glue and hot patches on the tubes. Yes, we knew what spoke wrench was and how to use it. The neighbor's kid's (he was about 15 at the time) bike had a low tire and was not riding it. I asked him about walking it to the gas station and putting air in the tire himself. Total shock and awe. Better to go to the store and buy a complete bike rim, tire and have them install it...

If we teased an animal and got snapped at or bit, then it was a lesson learned permanently and we knew that we were to blame, not the animal. Tell a kid today that the animal will bite for getting teased and it is in one ear and out the other.

Lighting fires and using knives was not a mystery to us, we were shown how and where to do things safely and were trusted with both. Please note, this was while growing up in an urban environment.

The sooner a youngster is started off with good, valid commensense information presented in an appropriate manner and place, the sooner and better they will be prepared and able to handle life's twists and turns that Murphy's Law hits us with.

Ahem, blush...I'll climb down now and a special thanks to those parents / grandparents / aunts and uncles / role models / mentors & scout leaders etc. that take the time to keep showing todays kids how to use good common sense and learn the basics of life that are so rapidly disappearing from todays youth.

Regards, Comanche7

Hi Comanche7,

Agreed with everything you've said. Do you think some parents would have a problem with some of these activities?

Yeah, I got to do all of that. And shoot, and study "applied chemistry" *coughs*. Heck, my MOTHER taught me to throw knives!

Kids are being turned into jello.

Tell the young man to get his heels down

I'm guilty of having done one through five before I was a teen and though I never drove a car until I got my learner's permit, I had a go cart... And man she was fast...

Things I learned from these experiences:

1. Dripping, melting plastic makes a cool noise, and when it touches skin, it sticks, burns and scars.

2. Cut away from yourself, because a sharp knife can cut down to bone.

3. Throwing a spear is fun. Catching a spear is painful.

4. I took apart a lot of broken appliances, and even managed to fix a few. If it isn't broken, don't open it up.

I have a lot of scars from childhood.

When I was this guys age the classic prone firing position using a Lee Enfield No 4 was used.

'LEGS The legs should spread loosely and without tension. The left leg will be straight but the right leg will be bent and drawn up 45 degree in order to ease the pressure on the stomach and stabilize the position. The inside of the right knee will lay upon or against the mat.

FEET The position of the feet is determined by the position of the body. The left foot should turned inward. The right foot should rest with the instep pressing lightly against the floor.'

Firing a BREN LMG was slightly different though and required both legs to be straight with the toes dug into the ground. The BREN had a habit of jumping forward when being fired and the toes dug into ground helped stop that from happening.

The weird thing is though, I reckon I could still disassemble and reassemble a BREN in the pitch dark 25 years later. Maybe not, after thinking about it.

Good one Blast!

Our girls have started learning how to use a knife beginning at about age two. When we go camping, the kids get to make, maintain, monitor and put out their own fire. They have to do it collaboratively so that we don't have fires everywhere. An adult is always monitoring and scolding, er, I mean teaching.

We have even had ax safety and usage "classes" for the kids at camp. I think the youngest kid to chop some would was about three. The big thing is to make them stop before they actually get tired. They think they can still go on, but attention and safety will start to slip if they don't stop.

I think sometimes the kids are safer than some adults. Last time at camp, one of the moms asked me to borrow my knife. It happened to be a Falkniven F1. I handed it to her handle first. When she was done, she called me over and said she was done and shoved it back to me...blade first. She almost stabbed my hand. So I had to scold, er, teach her safe handling of knives. Her husband would only nod and smile. He was smart enough to keep his mouth shut otherwise she probably would have let him have it.

Many parents don't even let their kids play and I think that is a shame. I call my girls my monkey princesses, not just because they will climb anything, but because my wife called me the monkey king. Not because of my looks or prehensile body parts, but after the monkey king in Chinese folklore. For some reason, my wife thinks I was (and still am) mischievous.

Very good point!

-Blast

My son and I actually cut and made spears last weekend (he is 15). Had a blast throwing them and getting them to stick.

Bill

I bought the same book for me.

Bill

There is a lot to be said for:

-Climbing really tall trees
-Digging deep holes
-Chopping down trees way out in the woods without your parents knowing
-Building forts
-Riding mini-bikes and go-carts
-Using flammable model glue to create a realistic battle scene with the little green army men
-Spearing frogs
-Avoiding serious injury during an acorn fight
-Running from lit fire crackers
-Making a torch out of a stick and toilet paper
-Damming up a creek to make an impromptu swimming hole
-Hikes with your friends when the only survival stuff you have is a canteen, a pocket knife, and a sandwich

Who needs video games?

Great post Blast.

"1. Play with fire (my personal favorite)"

Ya don't say??

Playing with fire and knives plus the preteen driving excursions; I guess I grew up OK!
Man you could not keep me out of the trees..
Bill

I really feel sorry for the kids of today. Many of them can't even THINK of interesting things to do, much less do them.

When my nephew was just old enough to get into Little League, he was proudly going up to bat for the very first time, and my sister's last words to him were "Don't get hit!" Then he shied away from all the pitches and was struck out without even swinging. Poor kid.

Sue

Yeah, they left out climbing trees. My oldest fell out of a tree this fall and broke two fingers, but they healed. I told him to land on his head next time - its harder.

What I can't figure out is how I never managed to break any bones as a kid. Burns, cuts, abrasions, punctures, sprains... that's another story.

"What I can't figure out is how I never managed to break any bones as a kid."

You grew up on the Learn As You Grow plan, you started young, and learned more as you kept trying new things.

Sue

I think if you start young too you build up some strength. When me son was just a year old we would take him to the play place at the mall and he would follow the 3,4,5 etc year old kids up the slide and parents would come over to us amazed at how well he gets around when he had just learned to walk. He went from barely being able to walk to climb anything within a couple week. he's fallen plenty of times but manages to not get hurt as he's built up his muscles pretty tough.
climbing is one of the issues we have with MIL, every time he hears a siren he climbs the back of our couch to look out the window to see the fire trucks and she yells at him for it and we tell her to not yell at him that thats the only way he can see out the window and its our couch, if it was her couch he was climbing on she she didn't want him to it would be different. She wrote my wife a pretty nasty letter just this weekend telling her how he's going to be dead or crippled because we let him climb on things.

Hi Eugene,

My son did a similar thing when he was young (13 years ago). We lived at the end of a bush road and had a big black lab dog who was only allowed in the house if he stayed on the mat in front of the door. My then toddler son was too short to see out the window in the door and would stand on the sleeping dog to elevate himself. That dog would not move even as our son was stepping all over him, he would sometimes fall off but with no major injuries. That dog is long since gone now, we miss him.

No MIL problems, I wish mine lived closer than 2 hours away.

Mike

Not to mention that the owner of the teased animal, and the animal itself, will be held liable for the kid getting hurt even if he was deliberately antagonizing the animal. There are no "actions = consequences" lessons anymore for fear of being sued by parents.

Broke 2 bones as a kid on that Learn as you grow plan - One, I jumped, landed wrong, and broke my little toe on my right foot - and when I say I jumped, I'm talking hopping down about 6 inches - just a bad landing - the worst part? Did it the night after school let out, and it didn't heal enough for me to walk without crutches till 3 days after school started - yep, lost a whole summer - except I built a real cool soap box car for me to get around in...

The other, I went to put my hand on a friends shoulder - he jerked away - just hard enough to get a hairline crack in the last joint of my pinkie

I kind of think that I just managed to squeeze into that last generation that got to really play. I never broke a bone either (knock on wood), and only sprained my wrist (once).

But every weekend I'd be killing Commie hords in the neighborhood, bike riding, playing at Grandma's... I'm 29, a suburb/city boy that still got lots of camping from Dad and later the Boy Scouts. So, I carry a knife (only cut myself once), not afraid of the dark, probably could spend a night out here in MI if I absolutely had to, can use a rifle, bow & arrow, canoe & knows how to whittle. Didn't even get Nintendo till a few years after it came out. And, to be honest, there's nothing in my parents' house after Nintendo-64. As you can see, video games were never the focus of my brother or my life... though he has plenty of friends to play them with.

No kids of my own, but I swear that they're not getting Gameboy or a Playstation until they're 10. Hopefully my future-wife (she's gotta be out there somewhere) agrees!

Working from head to toes:
1. Crack in bone on right side of forehead
2. Six large scars on skull and neck
3. Broke nose
4. Broke 18 ribs and sternum in two places (surgical event)
5. Lost bottom quarter of both lungs (surgical event)
6. Broke left elbow in three places (really bad softball game)
7. Burn scars on back of right hand
8. Cat-bite scar on left middle finger
9. Broke left pinkie
10. Broke left ankle
11. Broke bone in center of left foot.

-Blast aka "Lucky"

I'm enjoying this thread. I enjoy reading ETS and don't usually have much to add but this time I'll try. I have one to suggest as a possible #6. There are many caveats about this one and finding a safe time & place are paramount as it certainly qualifies as dangerous.

#6. Build a "UFO" with a dry cleaner bag, straws, tape, and nubs of birthday candles.

I did most of these things when I was a kid and managed to live. When I was 10, I stuck a ball of clay on a board and pushed a .22 shell into the ball. Then I (you know you see this coming) shot the .22 with a BB gun. There was a pop that made my ears ring and a sudden pain that left me breathless. The .22 case hit me in the middle of my chest and left a bloody, seeping, superficial flesh wound. I'm proud to say that I staggered backward, but did NOT drop the BB gun.

I think I'm going to leave that one out of my things to do with my kids (5 y.o. boy and 1 y.o. girl).

Has anyone mentioned bottle rocket fights? The nanny culture has long since made the small bottle rockets illegal in TX and probably the rest of the U.S. (they were sold by the gross pack - 12 rockets to a small pack, 12 packs to the gross). Man those bottle rocket fights were great, sometimes the whole neighborhood would be involved. Dad's (and the occasional mom with bandaids) would be out helping their kids wage war. And each side would have a 5 gallon bucket with water and a shovel to put out the occasional fire. Great, potentially dangerous, fun!

[/quote]

Worst thing I have is when I fell 10 feet out of a tree and impaled my thigh on a jagged piece of PVC pipe. [/quote]


I can relate, I fell into a bunch of bushes and felt lucky to have been unscathed. But I learned a huge lesson to be more careful next time when I found a branch had skewered through my pants not an inch from the family jewels. It was a lesson, I still haven't forgotten. And I didn't even get hurt.

This thread reminds me of Capt. Quint, Sheriff Brodie and Hooper in the movie Jaws - below deck sharing "scar" stories.

By the way:
One stitch in thumb when I was 2 years old
Stitches in thigh
Stitches in pinky(almost lost it)
Broken collarbone (baseball injury)
Broken wrist (trampoline accident)
Broken finger (football)
Cruthes at least 7 times between ages 12 & 27

let's see:
i've got a scar on each pointer finger in almost exactly the same place. It's cool cause when I clasp my hands together the scars line up perfectly. One is from a SAK closing in me. The other is from a chainsaw blade that i broke apart and was swinging around cause I'd just read a whole stack of Ghostrider comics.

A burn scar between the thumb and pointer on my right hand from a bit of burning rope.
One on the back of my right hand where I threw a knife and it bounced and came back at me.

A round one near the cuticle on my left pointer finger. I forget what i was doing, but it involved a razer blade. It slipped and sliced a chunk of flesh almost completely off. I didnt' want my mom to freak out, so i just put it back together with scotch tape. healed fine, but to this day, that area is slightly numb.

Big old scar on the inside of the big tow on my left foot where I stepped on a bottle which broke and went right through the moccasin I was wearing. The cut was so clean I didn't even know I'd been cut until I saw that i was leaving a trail of blood behind me. That one needed stitches.

When i was REAL little i was spinning around on the coffee table at my grandparent's house. I slipped off and sliced my head open on the stone hearth. that one got me three stitches and a lollipop for being a good boy at the doctor's office.

There's a fairly new one on my right hand where I lashed myself while practicing with my bullwhip.

One little scar on my belly where i got with a Roman Candle last year. I LOVE bottle rocket wars. There's a fireworks supercenter near us and every year in July we(me, my brother and sister, and the neighbors) go and buy as many bottle rockets as we can get for twenty dollars. then we tie cardboard shields to our arms and go to war in the yard. We've got two acres and a forest, so we have plenty of room to move around. A few years ago one of the neighbors threw a string of firecrackers at me and it went off right by my head. That was the single most painful thing I've ever experienced, and I was almost completely deaf in my left ear for two days. Of course, that didn't stop me from reentering the fray after the pain subsided.

Blast, why does your list not surprise me?

Sue

I'm surprised and disappointed. This looks like the short list.

Well, it probably is the short list.

The really BIG stuff he left out so we all wouldn't say something like, "We knew you were dangerous to be around, but how could you have been that dumb?!"

And he probably left out all the small stuff as not being noteworthy.



Sue

Sue is right.

-Blast

Isn't Sue always right?

only if you're Sue's husband

Man, and I thought I was doing well with appendectomey, tonsils removed (they grew back), two lower back ops, two right shoulder, one left shoulder, right elbow, and two ops to left eye, .22 cal pellet to that eye, third degree burn to left wrist, and more little bitty scars than I can remember. But the only broken bones are nose and left little toe (twice). One the night before I got married for the second (and last) time (who else can say that they got married with their toes duct taped together?)...

OBG... I CAN'T STAND IT! I just HAVE to ask!

Were you married with your OWN toes duct-taped together, or were you and your wife married with BOTH your toes duct-taped together?

If the latter, wasn't it hard to walk back down the aisle? And I hope neither of you were driving....

heeheeheeheeheeheehee!

Sue, whose imagination surpasses her memory