15 Things we did as Kids that were Really Dangerous: Article Review

Although this blog is mostly saved for documenting my life as a father and our family as we grow together… Every now and again I come across an article that lends itself to a discuss about raising children.

Recently I read an article that was titled: 15 Things We Did as Kids That were Really Dangerous.  I wasn’t totally surprised about what was on the list… I was assuming that there were going to be some no brainers on there like sitting in the back of the station wagon, or play with fireworks… but some of the things listed absolutely blew my mind… (thanks to www.chacha.com for the entertaining read).

15 Things We Did as Kids That Were Really Dangerous

1.  Climbing Trees:  ”When you’re a kid, you think you’re invincible, leading to some pretty reckless behavior!”  Since when is climbing a tree reckless?  It’s a tree, you’re supposed to climb it… what else are you supposed to do with it?  When my brother was seven, he climbed a tree at our grandma’s house and fell out of it and broke his wrist.  Without this incident he would have never learned that he is supposed to hold on to something when he is at high altitudes… Valuable life lesson if you ask me.

2. Jump off the Swings:  “If you got a really good swing going, you could have jumped off at ten feet or higher! One wrong move and you could have easily hurt yourself.”   That is exactly the point… when you’re a kid there is no better way of proving you’re a badass like jumping off the swing further than everyone else.  At seven years old it’s pretty much the ultimate show off move in your bag of tricks. 

3. Trick of Treating: “The fact that we send kids out one night a year to strangers houses begging for candy is crazy if you think about it too hard.”  You know what, I don’t disagree with this one… I touched upon the craziness of this event in an earlier blog.

4. Playing with Sparklers: “Of course some kids are going to find away to play with actual fireworks, which is terrifying.”  Listen I’m not saying give your kid a stick of dynamite or some mortar shells… but sparkles?  Come on… They’re about as dangerous as a flashlight.

5. Seesaw: “Back in the day you had to rely on your partner to keep you safe, or not.”  Seesaws are death machines… an evil torture device created to wreak havoc on the playgrounds of our childhoods.  I hated when my “friend” would jump off and you would slam down from seven stories up.  The shock waves that were sent up your rear-end and back were devastating.

6. No Seatbelts:  “It wasn’t that long ago (the 80s) that kids weren’t required to wear seatbelts.”  Is this true?  If so… someone missed the boat on this one… not sure what kids didn’t get strapped in as a kid back in the ‘80s.  Click it or Ticket!

7. No Helmets:  “Kids never used to wear helmets to ride a bicycle. In fact, it would have been so embarrassing to do so, they probably would have rather died than be seen wearing a helmet.”  I definitely fell victim to this one… I hated wearing a helmet.  I have a little Beetle Juice head… so nothing ever fit me right… If I wore a helmet, I would have had to probably use a coffee mug, because everything else was too big.  I’ll pass.

8. Play Outside All Day: “Anything could have happened the second you left the door and no one would have known until you didn’t come home on time that night. It was crazy!”  Once my mom fed me breakfast, I was given a small amount of food and my sneakers and told not to come home until it was dark.  I’m pretty sure she locked the door and took the phones off the hook too.  That’s the way it should be… get outside, build a fort, play football in the street.

9. Sledding: “Of course sledding down a steep icy hill can result in some extreme speeds and watch out for the trees!” Sledding? Come on… really?!! No Comment

10. Staying Home Alone: “A generation or two ago, younger kids would often be left at home alone to fend for themselves while both parents worked.”  Give the kids a hamster wheel and a water dispenser and a cell phone and they’re ok.

11. Dangerous Toys: “Many even involved projectiles such as lawn darts, slingshots and of course BB guns.”  No guns in this house.  Just not a fan.

12.  Bunk Beds: “And it was also pretty easy to hit your head on the bottom of the top bunk. In fact, about 36,000 kids are injured on these beds every year.” Bunk beds are death traps!  They’re coffins for people who are still alive.  The above stat is probably just a third of the injuries that actually happen… because if it were me… no way would I actually admit that my kid was injured on a bunk bed.  “There’s so much room for activities!”

13. Piñata: “OK, whose brilliant idea was it to give an already over excited child a stick, blindfold him and tell him to whack at a piñata full of candy while surrounded by other kids just waiting to rush in and grab that candy.”  Until I read the description from this website I never knew how awesome piñatas really are.  Dangerous- NO… Awesome- YES!

14. Sliding Down the Stairs: “If you didn’t slide down the stairs in a laundry basket or cardboard box or at least down the bannister, you didn’t fully enjoy your childhood!”  Well when you put it that way… again another description that completely makes me wonder how anyone would find this activity dangerous.  I’m 35 years old and I still slide down railings!

15. Licking the Spoon:  “Little did we know that most of those doughs contained raw eggs that could very easily have exposed us to salmonella!”  I guess this is a good way to end… You know you want to lick the brownie batter… you know its bad for you… you know you shouldn’t… but you do it anyway.