Of course it would be horrible if anything did happen to him, but it is also horrible and much more likely if he grows up with no sense of liberty or confidence in himself.

I just read a book about young Albert Einstein to my sons, and apparently his parents started letting him wander independently around Munich when he was just 4. And somehow nobody called CPS.

When I was a Cub Scout I always heard stories of older Scouts and Rovers doing all kind of incredible adventures, getting dirty, climbing mountains, hunting a rabbit, breaking a bone, even the oldest Rovers hitchhiking across the country to make a two week expedition to follow Hernan Cortez’s route.

When I grew older I lived some adventures but I notticed Scouting turning a bit over concerned with coddling boys every year.

When I served as an Scouter in my mid twenties I was some of the few who actually took 24 boys to camp in the woods and made them carry their bags for miles, clean their tents, cook their meals and learn how to have proper adventures and be responsible for themselves.

Sometimes things went wrong and a patrol ruined their meal or lost their tent, a boy cried, went lost for an afternoon or suffered some injury.

Once the whole troop told me our camping was their worst ever (lots of things went wrong and a patrol wanted to disband) and yet they were excited to recreate it a year after because it was an experience that made them feel strong afterwards: it forced them to take out the best of themselves and depend on it.

The last time I was in contact with a local troop I learned boys aren’t allowed to camp on sites that were not fenced, guarded by the police and in close range of all services. Most of their activities could be easily held on a classroom. The boys were winy, unmotivated, asocial and very sacastic.

I remember my Scouting mates and me were scared and anxious at the same time to build a camp o the trees, ten feet over the ground. We hardly slept because it was the most uncomfortable camp and the tent tilted about ten degrees but we felt as the kings of the world in the morning.

I know im a little late, but i LOVE your comment haha

The first few comments on this post are just sad…

Jaimie and Jasmine….maybe one day you will see how coddling children (not cuddling you freakin idiot) will destroy any potential your child really was born with.

I completely agree that the MEDIA has a big hand in this “stranger danger” bullcrap….yea weird and sick things happen every once in a while, but when the media blows it up saying, “IS YOUR CHILD IN DANGER????!!” yea, parents are gonna freak. One chidl was abducted, therefore everyone’s child is in danger of being abducted…how does this make sense?

There’s no point to comment, but I guarantee you my children will have common sense, street smarts, feel independent, and be confident because my parenting style parallels the ideals here…

Please, get over yourselves you whiny cows. Hopefully your kids will repay your shitty overprotective parenting someday by leaving your ass soaking in a dirty diaper in a nursing home.

I guess by your standards I was coddled. I was driven everywhere even during my teen years. I didn’t start handling my own transportation until I went away to college and I could get from point A to point B just fine.

As a toddler, my mom rush to my side if I fell and ask me if I was okay. Other parents would criticize her for “coddling” me. Today, my mom and I are very close. She was a disciplinarian first and my best friend second. It is possible to do both, but it is difficult to balance. She set much higher standards for me compared to other parents and never praised me unless I truly earned it. She would never hesitate to tell me if I were terrible at something and never sugarcoated anything.

I didn’t have a job as a teenager and was never given an allowance. I was expected to do chores without being asked and to do them for free. Strangely enough, my friends who had jobs and allowances grew up very spoiled because they often spent this money on themselves rather than on helping their parents pay bills. They tend to focus on what THEY want or need, rather than on what their family needs. This can breed a very “it’s-all-about-me” mentality if parents are not careful.

My mom was very protective in some ways, but she had reason to be. Burglaries were common in my neighborhood and she taught me to fight. I’ve witnessed my friends being killed and my pets being shot at all before third grade. You know what the funny thing is? Even after facing some horrific tragedies, I never needed therapy. I coped with life just fine and can solve all of my own problems as an adult.

I know many adults who were raised with your proposed method of parenting and although they are resilient (at least on the surface), I found many (NOT ALL) of them to be a bit emotionally-wounded. They have lots of mommy or daddy issues for some reason. There’s this extreme coldness between them and their parents to the point where they think that it is not necessary for them to help out their parents when they need it. They have such little loyalty to their family.