Exposure to dangerous activities like throwing rocks and playing with fire helps children grow stronger, claims a new book.
According to the book titled ‘Fifty Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do)’, allowing youngsters to play tough games means giving them the chance to learn about risks and responsibilities.
The suggested activities include boiling water in a paper cup, cooking CDs in a microwave, driving under adult supervision and licking a nine-volt battery.
The authors insist that by playing with fire children would learn to control one of the most “elemental force in nature”. They will also learn about “intake, combustion and exhaust“.
Licking a nine-volt battery will give a slight jolt, but it will get them introduced to the concept of electric shock, it said.
Gever Tulley, co-author of the book, says it is better to try something and fail as it will aid a child’s “creative development” than to not try at all, The Daily Mail reported.
“Of course, we must protect children from danger . . .
but when that becomes over-protection, we fail as a society, because children don’t learn how to judge risk for themselves,” he said.
