Apr. 12, 2008 - Pain is not always bad
Just a short venting post. Mrs. Underdog and I saw a report tonight on the news about playground injuries and children. Some orgnanization with enough time on its hands to produce and promote pointless data stated that about two hundred thousand kids were injured on playground last year.
So what is wrong with that?! Is it a bad thing for our kids to get banged up every once in a while? Do we want the next generation of children to have zero toughness, having been so protected from boo-boos that they cannot deal with pain? Why don't we just put every child in a bubble and play tiddlywinks?
It drives me nuts that we are so worried about Junior skinning his knee that we don't let him take certain risks. Climbing a tall ladder to the top of the slide builds confidence. Riding that bike down an incline at high speed teaches a boy to overcome the fear in the pit of his stomach. Getting blasted with a dodgeball encourages humility and adaptability to adverse conditions.
So much is learned about life on the playground. I am not advocating recklessness. But I do think that we are cheating our kids out of very important life lessons by over protecting them from anything and everything that might hurt them. Pain serves a very important purpose in the development of good character. So the next time your child wants to do the monkey bars on his own, don't point out the distance to the ground from that lofty height. Instead, let him go for it. He might fall and learn to face fear and failure. Or he might just do it and experience the joy of small successes.
Okay, done.
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