So true... sadly he wasn't the greatest at backing up his statements.. ohh well. When i was a kid i loved pulling apart machines to see how they worked. My dad ran a lab in the chemistry department of the local university. I loved pulling apart old equipment that the university was going to just throw out. Ever see a hard drive the size of a record... ever really understand how a mass-spectrometer works... facinating stuff.

This next bit may seem a bit odd but when i was young i had two rabbits. One died of old age and my dad decided he wanted to show me how a rabbit worked. I was old enough to understand that Mortemer(my rabbit) was dead and not going to bunny heaven or some crap like that. I got first hand knowledge of bunny anatomy!!! Awsome stuff. I remember seeing his heart, liver, lungs, and stomach. It is one thing to see pictures in a book its another to really see it in real life.

I always got the impression that my mom wasn't huge on the whole thing. I applaud my dad though... I will never forget that experience. It didn't mess me up or give me nightmares. I had eaten rabbit before that and understood that pets are animials just like any other.

I wish parents didnt act like sissies these days. I would hate to grow up indoors playing xbox all day.

One of the oldest, pimal things in our history, which I would hope is mentioned in this guys book, hunting. Not for the "murdering innocent animals" but for the pure survival aspects, actually working to get a meal, learning how to clean and prepare the food whether its a little rabbit or a deer. Of course it also teaches respect and responsibilty toward weapons, be it bow and arrow or guns.

By not allowing our kids to get hurt, we are only leaving them unprepared for reality. I have a 4 yr old son and 1 yr old daughter, they've both been to the hospital a few times for injuries, for example my son when he was about 3 let go of a tape measure and it reeled back up but managed to wrap around his finger first, took 4 people to hold him down for stitches. Guess what, he respects sharp objects now, if i'm handing him a knife or scissors, he stands back if the blade is pointed to him, and he's very careful when handling them. Even my 1 yr old daughter will stay away if someone is using a knife. They also have the same respect for fire, because they have been burned by fire. Lessons learned the hard way, which is really the only way.

As for the exploration part, kids are naturally curious for a reason, it's how we learn. I completely agree with him about having kids deconstruct things, just not tv's (I made that mistake at around 12 yrs old, didn't know about the capacitors).

Anyway, what it pretty much works out to, is if your kids are exploring and learning, and you're stopping them because they *might* get hurt, you are only stopping them from learning.

When my sisters and I were kids our grandfather convinced us to eat bugs. Turns out they were gross, but not harmful at all. My aunt freaked about pesticides and what not, but a few bugs does not make a complete diet. Our family taught us about these "dangerous" things (really common sense makes them not dangerous at all- c'mon people!) but taught us how to deal with all of them in a respectful or confident way. I will certainly not sterilize my son's childhood, round off the corners or shield him from any and all sharp objects. Smarten the kids up and they'll be fine!

these 5 rules are the exact same things I wanted to do all day, every day as a kid.

and kinda today except for the driving part. im kinda tired of that.

I agree with everything he says, but he's not a very compelling speaker, and didn't seem very well prepared to begin with.

It's too bad, because I think his points are very important -- childhood is disappearing under an avalanche of safety hysteria.

It's really a crisis, and I'm glad people are beginning to speak about it.