I was out watching Ev the other morning while he was climbing all over a playscape. There were about a million and 6 kids climbing all over the thing, running around, chasing each other, playing cops and robbers and such. At one point Evan runs up to me with a stick in his hand-- a smallish stick rather perfectly shaped and proportioned for a pistol. "Dad, can you hold this for me for a second?" while he tried to wrestle off his sweatshirt. Then off he goes running after bad guys, pistol in hand. "Don't run with a stick in your hand!"
Seriously? Did I really just say that as my kid took off running?? Like when he stood up to surf down the kiddie slide: "Careful!" WTF??
Of course I wasn't the only parent out there yelling lame, unwanted, and unnecessary exclamations at their otherwise perfectly healthy and safe kids, guilty of no offense greater than active play. Somehow, in this contemporary era of parenting it has become necessary to watch over our kids like the trauma police: no scrapes, no cuts, no bruises, no dirty clothes. In my own defense, I do see a fairly steady stream of kids who are injured during the course of unsupervised play or worse-- like the 3 year old who gets a broken arm when her 22 year old drunk uncle lands on her while they're both on a trampoline. But this was different and far removed from that brand of negligence.
When I was a kid (here we go-- you had to see this coming) my parents and those of my friends really didn't seem to care if, at 6 years old, we climbed high in an apple tree to throw dirt clods at the "bad guys." They didn't get measurably concerned if we climbed aboard a city bus and rode it to the end of the line and back. And later on, they thought it was pretty cool that a couple of us could ride our bikes through the city streets of L.A. to the airport and back, 30 miles-- stopping long enough to explore the terminals and flight decks of airliners as they were being serviced.
Obviously those days are over for a lot of reasons. 40 some years later it makes me nervous when I see my guy taking risks. I know it's good for his physical, emotional, and intellectual development but I still worry….. although I have to admit: he does look pretty cool surfing down that slide.
