I don't consider myself an 'overprotective' parent but I will admit that my heart did skip a beat to see my 6 year old sawing away at a peace of 1x3, with a few nail points sticking through to boot. Overall though, I was really very proud...as were they.
This is one of the reasons we made this lifestyle change and one of our central and shared values as parents. In the words of the inspirational Miss Frizzle (from the Magic School Bus) "It's time to take chances! Make mistakes! And get messy!" And that's what childhood should be all about!Erich and I have talked about how much freedom we feel to create, build and basically do whatever the hell we want, living out here. It is most rewarding that this feeling also seems to have rubbed off onto our children.
This is a stark contrast to Toronto, to where we could have raised our family...where the Board of Education ripped out all of the playground equipment from every school because it was too 'dangerous' for kids. Seriously! Have you ever heard something so goofy? There seems to be a trend to generally sanitize environments for kids with the idea of removing as much risk as possible. It makes me crazy! How do kids learn to manage risk if they never get to take any?? 'SMARTRISK' is not just somewhere I used to work...it is something that has become a guiding principle in raising my kids.
Don't get me wrong...we're not completely irresponsible...we have shown our kids the proper way to hold a saw, drill and hammer...so they have had a chance to practise supervised...likely why they felt so comfortable taking on the task on their own.
So this is the final product...
Great job ladies!
