Doesn't he know that every year, hundreds of people fall through ice and... (cont on p 67).
Showing posts with label risk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label risk. Show all posts
Sunday, 12 February 2012
He's at it again!
Bad parenting award number... errr.... (no, I've lost count...)
That Ben has been allowing his kids to skate on thin ice again!
Doesn't he know that every year, hundreds of people fall through ice and... (cont on p 67).
Doesn't he know that every year, hundreds of people fall through ice and... (cont on p 67).
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Bad Parenting Award No. 365, 321
We've just been for a lovely walk in the country, and ... I allowed Dominique to skate on a frozen pond!
Not only that, it was pre-meditated - we had taken her skates.
And I allowed Charlie to slide around on it in his wellies (and did the same myself).
Don't some people realise that every year, people fall through ice and... (cont on p. 53)
Not only that, it was pre-meditated - we had taken her skates.
And I allowed Charlie to slide around on it in his wellies (and did the same myself).
Don't some people realise that every year, people fall through ice and... (cont on p. 53)
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Sunday, 5 April 2009
The Great Condom Con
I was visiting my nephew, Xerxes, the other day. Over dinner, he and his girlfriend, Yolande, revealed a tragedy early in their relationship. While still at college, they had suffered a condom failure, so, obviously, had to have an abortion 'as we weren't ready for children.' So little Z, paid the price of his or her life.
And the tragedy is that X & Y thought they were being responsible. They have been taught long and hard that:
a) sex is a necessary part of any affectionate relationship between a boy and a girl
b) it is pretty necessary for teenagers regardless of affection
c) using a condom is safe and reliable: and therefore responsible...
...and less openly, but in the mix:
d) abortion is of course available as a backup should (per impossibile, of course) a condom fail.
Over the next few posts I will elucidate why this is such dangerous teaching and why individual condom failure is so high, and further why promoting condom use is a recipe for tragedy and disaster.
And the tragedy is that X & Y thought they were being responsible. They have been taught long and hard that:
a) sex is a necessary part of any affectionate relationship between a boy and a girl
b) it is pretty necessary for teenagers regardless of affection
c) using a condom is safe and reliable: and therefore responsible...
...and less openly, but in the mix:
d) abortion is of course available as a backup should (per impossibile, of course) a condom fail.
Over the next few posts I will elucidate why this is such dangerous teaching and why individual condom failure is so high, and further why promoting condom use is a recipe for tragedy and disaster.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Risk and risk aversion: The Countryside Ban
The BBC reports that children are not being allowed to play out of doors enough, due to parental fears of risks.
Of course, not allowing your kids to grow up confident and independent is far riskier.
And of course, it is the media,including the BBC, which fuels parents' fears way beyond reasonable levels.
When I was a kid in a big city, I was allowed to play out in the local parks and streets - and my kids are certainly allowed to wander the countryside pretty much at will. And the evidence is that the risk has remained pretty constant - and low -over that period, but the perceived risk has grown disproportionately.
Of course, not allowing your kids to grow up confident and independent is far riskier.
And of course, it is the media,including the BBC, which fuels parents' fears way beyond reasonable levels.
When I was a kid in a big city, I was allowed to play out in the local parks and streets - and my kids are certainly allowed to wander the countryside pretty much at will. And the evidence is that the risk has remained pretty constant - and low -over that period, but the perceived risk has grown disproportionately.
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Risk and risk aversion
In the last few days, I have followed tragic news stories of people falling from hills where we have walked and dying, and kids falling through ice and drowning: and yet I still let the kids go out on the iced ponds to skate and we still go for family walks in the hills.
Is this just perverse?
I don’t think so. I think the virtue to consider here is prudence. I think that prudence means both avoiding unnecessary risk, and also being prepared to engage with necessary risk.
I clearly don’t want my children to have serious or fatal accidents; but I think in our modern culture there is another danger, less obvious. which is that the children grow up as cowards, afraid of the wrong things.
I want my kids to fear evil, not potential hazards. And I hope that by teaching them that they can assess and mitigate risk in the natural realm, I will give them the courage to avoid evil when they can, and fight it when they must.
To put that another way, I think that trying to remove all physical risks from kids' experience of life is a very risky strategy for their development and well-being.
In the meantime you might spare a prayer for those who have died in the recent severe weather, and their families.
Is this just perverse?
I don’t think so. I think the virtue to consider here is prudence. I think that prudence means both avoiding unnecessary risk, and also being prepared to engage with necessary risk.
I clearly don’t want my children to have serious or fatal accidents; but I think in our modern culture there is another danger, less obvious. which is that the children grow up as cowards, afraid of the wrong things.
I want my kids to fear evil, not potential hazards. And I hope that by teaching them that they can assess and mitigate risk in the natural realm, I will give them the courage to avoid evil when they can, and fight it when they must.
To put that another way, I think that trying to remove all physical risks from kids' experience of life is a very risky strategy for their development and well-being.
In the meantime you might spare a prayer for those who have died in the recent severe weather, and their families.
Friday, 2 January 2009
New Year
We had some counter cultural friends to stay over for a couple of days to see in the New Year with us. All the kids (seven) were done up in leather armour with wooden swords for most of the walks... It was a great sight to see them skating about on a frozen pond in all their kit! Other more responsible parents were at the edge of the pond, warning their children how dangerous it was going to be when the ice cracked, We tested the ice and then let the kids run riot on it. (We did have a rope, space blanket etc in the rucksack just in case, but were confident with the ice several inches thick that we wouldn't need it).
Back at home we played charades, and other similar games which all could join in with, and once the smaller kids were in bed, taught Ant and Bernie how to play bridge, which they both enjoyed.
It's always good having other Catholic families to stay, as they join in with family prayers, grace before meals and so on, which is good for their kids and ours, in terms of making it demonstrably a normal thing for fun people to do...
Back at home we played charades, and other similar games which all could join in with, and once the smaller kids were in bed, taught Ant and Bernie how to play bridge, which they both enjoyed.
It's always good having other Catholic families to stay, as they join in with family prayers, grace before meals and so on, which is good for their kids and ours, in terms of making it demonstrably a normal thing for fun people to do...
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Those kids...
This afternoon Ant took the other kids down to the local river, and set up an abseil off the bridge for them. She went first, then realised getting back up was a problem: dangling over the river too far from the shore. I think Bernie lowered a second rope and helped heave her up. After that they sorted a system that worked and all four of them took turns descending as quickly as they dared to just above the water and then being hoiked up by their siblings. And to think, they could have been safely at home watching TV...
Friday, 29 August 2008
New research links cycle helmets with abortion
In an astonishing new study, it has been suggested that women who wore cycle helmets when girls are more likely to have abortions than those who did not.
Apparently, the theory is that those who wear cycle helmets are more likely to have been raised in a prevailing ethos of fear.
That has long term consequences. Fear of losing a boyfriend may make girls scared to say no to a boy’s demands for intimacy. Also, the notion that with the right protective gear you are safer may lead such girls to think that condoms provide a secure protection against pregnancy (when all the data proves they don’t - particularly for young users).
Further, the girl whose world view is one of fearing the future is exactly the one whom the abortionists can most readily seduce into their mills.
Girls whose fathers are sufficiently counter-cultural to laugh at cycle helmets, and who view life as an adventure to be engaged on courageously and prudently, seem to grow into more secure and robust teenagers and adults, able to tell boys where to get off, or even cope with an unplanned pregnancy in a positive and life affirming way.
The research was conducted in a novel fashion: by arguing from first principles. It is not peer reviewed and has no scientific validity. In fact it is pretty fraudulent (aka a joke). But I hope it made you think!
Apparently, the theory is that those who wear cycle helmets are more likely to have been raised in a prevailing ethos of fear.
That has long term consequences. Fear of losing a boyfriend may make girls scared to say no to a boy’s demands for intimacy. Also, the notion that with the right protective gear you are safer may lead such girls to think that condoms provide a secure protection against pregnancy (when all the data proves they don’t - particularly for young users).
Further, the girl whose world view is one of fearing the future is exactly the one whom the abortionists can most readily seduce into their mills.
Girls whose fathers are sufficiently counter-cultural to laugh at cycle helmets, and who view life as an adventure to be engaged on courageously and prudently, seem to grow into more secure and robust teenagers and adults, able to tell boys where to get off, or even cope with an unplanned pregnancy in a positive and life affirming way.
The research was conducted in a novel fashion: by arguing from first principles. It is not peer reviewed and has no scientific validity. In fact it is pretty fraudulent (aka a joke). But I hope it made you think!
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Helmets and risk
I mentioned I don't wear a helmet when cycling and don't encourage my kids to either. There are various reasons for this. One is probably sheer cussedness (aka pride). But there is more to it than that.
I think that there are a number of cultural agendas at work which I choose to counter.
One is the preference of the authorities to keep us living in fear. The populace is much more malleable and prepared to accept much more dictatorial government when it is scared. So to convince us that everything (even cycling!) is a high risk activity increases the power of the politicos.
The press collude with this. Their love is drama - that's what sells papers and news bulletins. So dramatic accidents are great for them - which is one of the reasons why most people in this country have a much greater fear of accidents than the statistics warrant. (the same is true of crime, particularly violent crime).
Then of course we have the commercial interests. Cycle helmet manufacturers would sell far fewer of their products if we weren't all indoctrinated to believe that cycling without a helmet is the equivalent of ordering a pint of hemlock at your local.
Finally there is the general consumer mentality: no longer can you tuck your trouser leg into your sock and hop on your bike. You have to put on your lycra cycling shorts and top, your special cycling shoes, your helmet and so on. (Have you noticed how all casual activities have now been deemed to require huge amounts of specialist clothing and kit?)
So I eschew all that.
We do assess and mitigate risk. But I think the risk of my kids being scared of life and unable to cope with a few knocks is far greater than the risk of their getting brain damage by not wearing a cycle helmet.
And experience suggests I'm right. The kids are always falling out of trees, off bikes, from swings and so on. They have far more petty injuries than their peers. They are also braver and tougher (in the sense of putting up with a scratch or a scrape) and most significantly have far fewer serious injuries: they learn (the hard way) to take reasonable care.
I think that there are a number of cultural agendas at work which I choose to counter.
One is the preference of the authorities to keep us living in fear. The populace is much more malleable and prepared to accept much more dictatorial government when it is scared. So to convince us that everything (even cycling!) is a high risk activity increases the power of the politicos.
The press collude with this. Their love is drama - that's what sells papers and news bulletins. So dramatic accidents are great for them - which is one of the reasons why most people in this country have a much greater fear of accidents than the statistics warrant. (the same is true of crime, particularly violent crime).
Then of course we have the commercial interests. Cycle helmet manufacturers would sell far fewer of their products if we weren't all indoctrinated to believe that cycling without a helmet is the equivalent of ordering a pint of hemlock at your local.
Finally there is the general consumer mentality: no longer can you tuck your trouser leg into your sock and hop on your bike. You have to put on your lycra cycling shorts and top, your special cycling shoes, your helmet and so on. (Have you noticed how all casual activities have now been deemed to require huge amounts of specialist clothing and kit?)
So I eschew all that.
We do assess and mitigate risk. But I think the risk of my kids being scared of life and unable to cope with a few knocks is far greater than the risk of their getting brain damage by not wearing a cycle helmet.
And experience suggests I'm right. The kids are always falling out of trees, off bikes, from swings and so on. They have far more petty injuries than their peers. They are also braver and tougher (in the sense of putting up with a scratch or a scrape) and most significantly have far fewer serious injuries: they learn (the hard way) to take reasonable care.
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