Recently we drove to a scenic location, on a flat plateau, and at the edge was a sheer cliff drop of several hundred feet, in it's natural state, i.e. no man-made safety barrier to stop you falling straight off the edge several hundred feet to near certain death.
We explained to our children the danger and admonished them to stay well back from the edge. Suddenly, when about 30 feet from the edge, DD2 started to run straight towards the edge, with her "hahahaha I being siwwy" giggle. I sprinted and caught her with about 5 or 10 feet to spare.
There are real dangers in the world, and parents need to protect their children.
The following advice is so unbelievably idiotic that I am at a loss for words.
2. We rescue too quickly
Today’s generation of young people has not developed some of the life skills kids did 30 years ago because adults swoop in and take care of problems for them. When we rescue too quickly and over-indulge our children with “assistance,” we remove the need for them to navigate hardships and solve problems on their own. It’s parenting for the short-term and it sorely misses the point of leadership—to equip our young people to do it without help. Sooner or later, kids get used to someone rescuing them: “If I fail or fall short, an adult will smooth things over and remove any consequences for my misconduct.” When in reality, this isn’t even remotely close to how the world works, and therefore it disables our kids from becoming competent adults.
