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Letting kids be dangerous

Ewan McIntosh calls out last night’s Panorama as “ill -researched pap”: “One click from danger, an expose of how every child must be fending off pedophiles with a stick as they surf the net.”

I watched it and it did indeed feel quite sensationalist. I’ve got a distant memory of Panorama as a serious news programme, but I could be wrong.

[* Update: Twitter reactions to the Panorama programme last night… *]

Like so many poorly pulled together scare-fests and documentaries a commonsense message was lurking at the end after all the ominous music and Brass Eye graphics montages: don’t let children have a computer in their bedrooms.

Anyway, by way of an antidote to another play on my fears as a parent, I found this TED video of Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, speaking about dangerous things we should let children do to encourage their development…

1. Play with fire

2. Own a pocket knife

3. Throw a spear

4. Deconstruct appliances

5. Break DRM laws

6. Driving a car

 

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Antony Mayfield

One response to “Letting kids be dangerous”

  1. Curtis Avatar
    Curtis

    I completely agree on letting kids be dangerous. I missed the Panorama thing – but I can imagine the editorial leaning heavily towards Daily Mail territory. I too remember the show being good once.

    I used to take everything apart when I was a kid – yes I got a few electric shocks, but I also learned how video recorders worked and how important it was to keep your screws in a safe place.

    I encourage my son to do dangerous stuff – we did a weekend in the new forest last year making fires and playing with sharp knives – it was great and he now respects fire and sharp things.

    This year we are mainly breaking DRM laws.

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