Having said that, kids are ingenious in what they consider play equipment to be, a cardboard box the toy came in becomes a pirate ship, space ship, car, bus, train, house, etc, a fence is just a piece of play equipment designed to be climbed, kitchen shelves become steps to climb, etc, etc. Everytime we limit access to these we also discourage kids from using their imagination and learning about risk and consequence.

And we also seem to forget that kids’ injuries are worn like a badge of honour, often for life. I still wear the scars of a fall off a slippery dip when I was about 10 years old and convinced I could fly. While my parents thought it just about the dumbest thing I had ever done, I learnt that I can’t fly, that gravity pulls things to the ground, and that it hurts if you fall from a great height. I was the hero of the playground for some time as I had to tell the story over and over and answer questions about what it was like, so I learnt a lot about story telling, interacting with other people, and possibly others learnt from my mistake and didn’t repeat it.

Every time a kid breaks an arm or a leg they learn a valuable lesson in risk and consequece, but they also learn a lot about interacting with other people as they tell stories and get the cast signed.

As for driving kids everywhere, how are they supposed to learn any road sense at all if they are never let out to walk themselves?