Are we terrified of letting our kids go outside? I don’t know – I have an infant and a toddler and I love taking them outdoors. But I assume that some parents must harbor some fear because I saw the most amazing permission slip ever, today. Something had to inspire this nonsense, so I’m going out on a limb and concluding that some parents are terrified of nature:
Maybe a kid came home from school dirty one day and all hell broke loose? What could possibly have motivated an educator to create a permission slip like this? Part of me hopes that this person just has an amazing sense of humor and was messing with all of the parents.
Something tells me I am giving the general public too much credit here, though. In the time of helicopter parenting and law suits, who knows the lengths that schools need to go to cover their rear ends. And since we’re on the topic of rear ends – a lot of kids don’t even get their rear ends outside of the house anymore. Between “stranger-danger” paranoia and TV and social media addictions, mud may in fact be a foreign substance to a lot of families.
I have to admit – I laughed at first, but it kind of makes me sad now. Maybe I just take any opportunity to wax poetic about the past – but life is so different for kids now.
I remember leaving the house in the afternoon and running around the neighborhood until the sun began to set. This behavior started when I was about 6-years-old. All the kids in the neighborhood did it. Does that happen anymore? It certainly wasn’t happening in Brooklyn. Maybe things will be different in the suburban town where we’ve relocated…
Read more: Marie Guido, mommyish.com
