Too Safe for Their Own Good

Tuesday, June 19th, 2007

Just finished this book by Michael Ungar.  His thesis is that despite the fact that Canadian children are safer than they’ve been at any time in history, parents are still often fearful for them, and go overboard in protecting them from risk, real or imagined.

He suggests that much ‘delinquent’ behaviour is a product of kids resorting to illegitimate for outlets for the natural desire for risk, adventure and identity when they haven’t been provided with legitimate expressions of risk.

This is always a challenge for us as parents – encouraging our kids to take responsibilities and risks at a pace that is appropriate for them.  We want to take care of our kids, but at the same time want them to become adults that know their own capabilities, and are able cope sensibly with new situations.  It’s not fair to any kid to make all their decisions for them and protect them from the consequences of their actions for twenty years, and then throw them out into the ‘real’ world and expect them to manage well.

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