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Filed under: Fun & activities, Health & safety, Extreme childhoodSchools have banned tag and other chase games. Playground equipment is safe and non-threatening. Swings are short so they can't swing too high. Climbing a tree is a lost art. Keeping kids safe is important, but are we protecting our children too much? There does seem to be a bit of a backlash against over-protection. First, there was The Dangerous Book for Boys, then Gever Tulley's TEDTalk, and now a new study from Play England, part of the National Children's Bureau in England says that children are missing out on an essential part of childhood -- risk.The study found that half of all children are not allowed to climb trees and one in six is not allowed to play tag or other chase games. Adrian Voce, director of Play England, says that kids "are not enjoying the opportunities to play outside that most people would have thought of as normal when they were growing up." He also noted that nearly three times as many kids ended up in the hospital after falling out of bed as after falling out of trees.Now, I know it can be difficult for parents to watch kids get themselves into dangerous situations and the natural reaction, when they get hurt, is to ban the activity that caused the accident, but the truth is kids can run into poles walking through the mall (as my son did the other evening) just as easily as playing "tickle pirate" at the playground.Sure, you don't want your kids to suffer serious damage, but a few bumps and bruises, if you ask me, builds character. My kids are forever running into things and falling down and they've learned you just get up and get on with it. That seems to me like a good attitude to take. Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Posted on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:01:00 EST at http://www.parentdish.com/2008/08/06/adv...ngredient/
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