We live in an overly controlled world. Too much safety and limitation
has been imposed on us – supposedly for our own good – and it has resulted in
making us much less safe for two reasons
The first reason is that we can no longer – apparently –
cope with dangerous situations. It used to be that from the moment we could
walk, we were encouraged to push ourselves and our fears to the limit. This
meant that children developed physically and mentally, learning how to climb
into trouble – and then get themselves out, realising along the way that
sometimes they would fall or scrape themselves. And that to do this was okay.
There was no shame or stigma about having scabby knees or a chipped milk tooth –
hell, the teeth are going to fall out before too long, and you’d know how to
look after the new ones because of the injury to the baby ones…
Nowadays, the slightest scrape or bruise on a child is seen
as a sign of poor parenting, negligence or even abuse. Teachers can no longer
push children to run a bit further, climb a bit higher or expand their comfort
zone just a little more. This means that children are growing up with an
unrealistic belief that nothing will hurt them, ever. This can make them
reckless (see below) or overly cautious, unwillingly to try anything new as it
might hurt, or because it scares them. Children can also get into more trouble
at school because when they are angry and lash out, they will do so with full
force, instead of moderating their movements as a child who knows how to
control their body would be able to do. Knowing that being hit hurts, can help
a child to learn that hitting another person is hurting them the same way: they
can learn to moderate their responses. Also, because they have not
automatically succeeded at everything in life, they will be more likely to be
empathetic and reasonable than someone who has never had to try or work for
anything in their life.
Growing recklessness is another result of an overly coddled
childhood. People are brave and thrive on challenge. In former times, these
challenges were fulfilled by competitive races, the urging to run faster, jump
higher and so on. Yes, some children couldn’t make it and dropped out of races,
perhaps feeling frustrated and insecure, but usually able – thanks to their
youth – to learn that while they might not be physical, they might well find
their strengths elsewhere… There was no shame in failing, only in refusing to
try. This all led to people feeling stifled and frustrated, and this in turn
led to the invention of sanctioned adrenaline-boosters like bungee-jumping,
sky-diving and white-water rafting – and also less legal pursuits like
base-jumping and tomb-stoning, as well as various trespassing activities by
which youth got their kicks.