Let Them Hurt Themselves!

Says - rather surprisingly - the head of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. And Tom Mullarky is absolutely right. Especially with this line:

as safe as necessary, not as safe as possible.

Humans learn through pain. If it hurts, you soon learn not to do it again. Those who are wrapped in cotton wool as children have no idea about looking after themselves, and have less understanding of the real world and how dangerous it can be.

Children are reckless because they haven’t learn about pain and how they can hurt themselves. If they get the chance to hurt themselves, they learn through their experiences, by doing. They learn that it hurts if they fall of their bike, for example. They learn how to look after themselves.

If we wrap children in cotton wool and bubble wrap, they - and we - suffer in the long term. Like Tom Mullarky, I think that it is a “positive necessity” that children have the chance to play and hurt themselves.

For further reading on Health and Safety, try reading the posts from Wardman Wire’s Health and Safety Month.

Source: The Telegraph

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