How much should you protect a child from in the world?

[Gaze]

Many would probably agree that children are a special group whose world should not be negatively affected by all the things out there in the world. It's normal for parents or guardians to want to protect their children from harm or negative influence, or bad things. It's also common for parents or guardians to be expected to protect their children from things which are very difficult. But how much difficulty should they be protected from?

How much protection from the world is too much for a child? Where do you draw the line between too much protection and too little? Is it better for a child have an easy or diffculty free life (with all the protections in the world) or is it more beneficial to have a difficult life without any protections from the ills of the world?

 

[sassafras]

I don't think you should overly protect a child from the world at all. It infantalizes them. Instead, I think you need to explain things to children (always in a way that they can understand at the time) and spend time with them and demonstrate that you have faith in their abilities. Self-esteem does not come from empty, cooing praises; it comes from belief in the self. No amount of someone telling you that you're a special person is going to help you when you come across your first obstacle and realize that you don't have the skills or the emotional muscle to withstand the difficulty. These lessons must come in age-appropriate increments, of course, but I honestly would rather expose my kids to too much than be an overprotective parent and an overly sensitive, paranoid kid. It's crippling to their quality of life and prevents them from trying new things just because they're 'scary.'

 

[Paladin-X]

I don't think you should overly protect a child from the world at all. It infantalizes them. Instead, I think you need to explain things to children (always in a way that they can understand at the time) and spend time with them and demonstrate that you have faith in their abilities. Self-esteem does not come from empty, cooing praises; it comes from belief in the self. No amount of someone telling you that you're a special person is going to help you when you come across your first obstacle and realize that you don't have the skills or the emotional muscle to withstand the difficulty. These lessons must come in age-appropriate increments, of course, but I honestly would rather expose my kids to too much than be an overprotective parent and an overly sensitive, paranoid kid. It's crippling to their quality of life and prevents them from trying new things just because they're 'scary.'

I was exposed to horror movies at a very young age. Now I'm afraid of the dark.

 

[Paladin-X]

I agree with [MENTION=1360]TheDaringHatTrick[/MENTION] though.

I remember growing up and there were lots of neighbourhood kids running around. I used to play ball hockey in the street. Now kids are nowhere to be seen (at least here in Edmonton). On Halloween, most of the parents take there kids around the block for an hour or go to the mall. :S

I think this is a somewhat relevant video that I posted a while back:

[video=youtube;oiDV6uOY9QI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiDV6uOY9QI[/video]