Risk is essential to childhood

Forestry Commission are OK with fires

They are? I thought the opposite
Help prevent forest fires

Only use designated barbecue sites for cooking
Never start a campfire in the forest as they can get out of hand very quickly

Did you stop reading there, Aracer? We aren’t our parents and we a talking about risk appreciation here. My parents were bombed, used crashed aircraft as playground toys, evacuated to the country and given the run of a farm. They were a generation for whom life was shorter and risk very much a part of it. We haven’t lived that and don’t have the same casual disregard for risk they did.

One of my earliest memories is finding myself under a car. Mummy dragged me out completely unhurt. Daddy had spun, hit the bank backwards which had thrown me out of the back window, I’d landed in the road and the car had gone over me. They bought me some nice biscuits in the cafe after – it was great! They were mad as hatters our parents, I still hate getting in a car with my dad driving.

Do people need studies to tell them kids need risk/bruises/danger to grow into well rounded capable young adults?

I’ve been riding on the roads with my boy on the weeride since we got it, he’s learning that roads are a place for cyclists. He doesn’t get picked up for cuddles right away when he bumps his head and cries… he gets 10-20 seconds to calm down on his own first and learn to deal with it. He’ll be getting tool kits, hammers, nails, saws and penknives as soon as I think he’d enjoy it and not be stupid with them. I’ll encourage him to start fires and jump off things. I’d simply feel so sad keeping him away from this side of life.

I kind of hate myself as when I was 9 me and mates were roaming the city (Liverpool) on buses all day, going into town, over to the Wirral etc. Now my daughter is the same age and we haven’t even let her out of the house on her own yet. My wife says it’s right as she’s a girl which means it’s more dangerous for her, and she’s kind of calling the shots on this one, and our road is not very child play friendly, plus she has no mates locally. I wish she were allowed some of the freedoms I had at her age but it just doesn’t feel right at all yet.

@rusty90

I just looked up. Seems FC Scotland tread a finer line that FC England…

Up here, yes we have ‘it is hot n dry, so leave it out’, but we also have opportunity to cook on fire pits, kelly kettles etc.

FC even encourage such play for children…
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fce-rope-swings-dens-fires.pdf/$FILE/fce-rope-swings-dens-fires.pdf

Awareness of risk, perhaps

No, but my reasons are nothing to do with risk. I’m not worried about burning the house (or the trampoline) down. I’m sure I don’t need to justify myself on the “risky” things I get up to with my kids.

In any case, the issue isn’t a lack of casual disregard of risk. I’d suggest that never was a particularly good thing. The issue is an inability to correctly assess risk. I’d rather my kids didn’t get up to things which really are risky, but quite happy for them to do things which aren’t which might get other people tutting.

I just looked up. Seems FC Scotland tread a finer line that FC England…

FC Wales (NRW) here, but just wanted to make sure that people didn’t get the idea that FC encourage people to wander into the forest and start fires! 🙂

FC even encourage such play for children…
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fce-rope-swings-dens-fires.pdf/$FILE/fce-rope-swings-dens-fires.pdf

Yes we’ve got a Forest School project near us who do all this sort of thing which I think is excellent

Just last week got my 6 and 4 year olds to cycle 12 miles round Lake Vyrnwy..
There was many cake and haribo stops. I cant think of many parents at school who would even take their children onto a road with bikes.
Horses, bikes, surfing, tree climbing, cycling, camping… all actively encouraged. The only worrying part in all this is my 2 year old has absolutely no fear and loves climbing. Theres been a few heart in mouth moments when ive turned my back for just a second.

We were on a French campsite that had a rope adventure trail onsite, as well as kayaking and ponies, bike trails and all sorts of outdoor awesomeness for kids The rope trail was great, very well put together. All the kids wore harnesses with double carabiner loops to a steel safety cable, and of course helmets. The instructors were very professional and attentive, and I estimated the highest point to be no higher than about twenty feet. My kids absolutely loved it, but they had spent a large chunk of their time climbing the trees in our garden. I mentioned it to the woman in the caravan next to ours and she had a near breakdown. These things were deadly, and I mean there was a risk of serious injury! It was irresponsible of the campsite to encourage such dangerous activities, and there was no way she would let her little cherubs anywhere near it. I tried to explain the safety harness and cable system, but she clearly couldn’t grasp how it would stop the kids from hurting themselves.

She reported us to the campsite management when we spent a jolly evening playing with a Pringles-tube canon, launching balled up gaffer tape with lighter fluid. The campsite manager engaged in a modicum of gallic shrugging and failed to understand enough Anglais to take the complaint on board. The bottle rockets off the car compressor didn’t impress her much either.

We eventually got our own back on her by getting her mouse of a husband pissed on some Belgian beer that was so sickly we decided it wasn’t worth drinking. 😈

Pringles tube cannon sounds like a great idea. Might have to try that one!

We use these at work, with added vent holes, and it works well, leaving no mark (unless on grass) and the kids are great at starting and managing them.

Matt, they also make an effective hot smoker for fish.

Pringles cannon does sound great…

and what exactly is wrong with wanting to keep the grass in good shape and not have burn holes in things?

Nothing at all, but having a bonfire is more fun. (ask your kids)

Pringles tube cannon recipe:
Eat two tubes of Pringles.
Remove base from one of the tubes with a Stanley knife
Join the two tubes together using gaffer tape.
Pierce the bottom tube about an inch from the base leaving a fuse hole about half an inch diameter.
Squirt one squirt of Zippo/Ronsonol liquid into the fuse hole and warm the tube in you hands. You’re looking to create a combustion space filled with vapor, not liquid fuel.
Create a projectile using balled up gaffer tape, shiny side out, not too dense in construction, and make it a reasonably snug, but not overtight fit in the tube.
Place it in the top tube as far down as the join.
Insert barbecue lighter with piezo spark into fuse hole and click. Do not peer into loaded tube whilst clicking.

Please note that this can be scaled up using various diameters of piping. I hesitate to recommend the final version which involved plastic fall pipe, a cooker piezo and potatoes. Experimenting with various propellants and amounts we were surprised to discover you can launch potatoes across an entire Scoutcamp using butane and hairspray.

An ex RAF friend of mine speaks fondly of scaling it up to cable bobbins and cabbages.