Can you be too careful?
I’ve been conscious recently that I quite often tell Flynn to “be careful mate”, and I am worried that I might be being overly protective and that it will have some lasting impression on him.
I don’t think I grew up overly protected. My brothers and I all smashed our front teeth doing one stunt or other. Adam was skating, Sam was playing rugby, and I was attempting something incredibly stupid, but that’s a whole other story…
The point is that I don’t want Flynn to grow up afraid of doing stuff, but at the same time I don’t want him smashing his teeth or breaking an arm and I wonder where the balance is. Do I let him climb up the back of the sofa and jump off worried it is likely to end poorly at some point, but not wanting to squash his enthusiasm and sense of adventure?
These were not questions I ever imagined myself asking, but I have definitely developed something of a protective streak and I’m wondering about the balance between being protective of Flynn and letting him explore and learn for himself as a young guy should.
Even though I don’t yet have kids I have thought about this too… I think the answer is that you have to try to teach him to take calculated risks. Jumping off the top of the sofa into dads arms is a stunt that should end out alright, whereas jumping off the sofa onto the cold hard floor probably won’t! Sarah’s sister and brother-in-law are both outdoor instructors and they have two young daughters (2 and 4) that are completely fearless (Nell recently got a climbing harness for her 4th birthday!!), yet they don’t seem to hurt themselves any more than normal kids do. I think that’s because they’ve been taught to take calculated risks.
Perhaps the bigger question is whether you’re going to let him be inspired by the new kiwi stunt flick ‘The Devil Dared me to’?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPEafcIYubk
It must be a tricky situation!
I’ve always thought it’s far better to let people learn by their mistakes.. but you don’t want the poor little bugger to break himself up too bad :)