Leave Those Kids Alone By Hanna Rosin: Article Analysis

Over the past thirty years or so parents have begun to take more time to nurture their children by keeping a watchful eye on them. Unfortunately, a watchful eye has come to mean an extreme hawk eye for almost every waking moment of the day. Many parents have become too involved in their children’s lives which is seen as a good thing by society because “failure to supervise has become, in fact, synonymous with failure to parent” (Rosin). However, it is not good for a child to be overprotected, which is what the article, Hey! Parents, Leave Those Kids Alone. by Hanna Rosin explores. I believe that over parenting is causing children to be less prepared for the real world as they get older because they lack the creativity, independence, and courage

You need courage to go up to a new person and talk to them, asking your boss for a raise or promotion, or going new places on your own. Courage seems to be easier to learn as a child because as a child you don’t think of the consequences to your actions and just do it. The shift towards safer playgrounds has also effected courage. Playgrounds are also supposed to be new experiences for children where they face the danger of the monkey bars or a firemen’s pole. These can be dangerous pursuits for a child, the risk of injury is there, but it is not very great. When my dad was a kid, he and his friends would ride their bikes toward a tree and jump off just before hitting the tree. I never said that this was smart or safe, but it created a sense of danger that helped them become more courageous. Bikes have also become seen as a dangerous pursuit for children. When my parents where children they didn’t have helmets, knee pads, wrist guards, or even smooth concrete to ride on. Learning to ride a bike helps children learn courage because they are not going to succeed on the first try. They are going to fall and need to get back up and try again. Children have lost a sense of danger because their parents are always watching them, telling them to be safe, and stopping any potentially harmful activities. This effects a child’s development because they are unable to experience a sense of danger in their lives which leads to courage