@SweaterVest@mastodon.cloud

There was a time when kids would go out and play, climb trees and do all the stuff that was normal for kids, sure they would fall out of trees, fall off bikes, get hurt, they learned to get up and keep going.

We are now so risk averse and terrified of litigation that kids seem to be sheilded from even minor danger, there was an article shared here on fedi, pointing out the serious mental health issues that stem from that.

If you stop kids taking normal risks, such as climbing trees, they get bored and end up turning to more dangerous things activities. Or just sitting on computers, talking to strangers who may pretend to be the same age as them. Kids need to learn to assess risk and as you said act accordingly, they need to be able to cope with setbacks rather than being taught to blame everyone other than themselves for what happens. The pandemic has been blamed for all sorts of things, meanwhile we have immigrant children, arriving with nothing, who go to school, work hard, and eventually gain degrees and PhD's. So there is nothing that can't be achieved.

In addition if we tell kids every adult is a predator they are not able to ask for or accept help if needed, adults are too scared to actually help in case they are accused of something. Kids need to learn that some grown ups are genuine when offering a helping hand.

Lets do kids a favour and start helping them navigate the world properly.