Helmets on the Trail

I am all for safety. I am a believer in prevention, but we are going too far. We are preventing kids from some of the most connecting experiences available to them, all in the name of safety or should I say the fear of lawsuits?! Here are just some of the ridiculous rules kids are subject to today: no animals in the classroom, no touching of snakes in nature centers, no climbing on ANYTHING, and no crossing a boardwalk without a lifeguard present. Million dollar payments in lawsuits for non-negligent accidents are largely to blame. When something bad happens we head for the nearest attorney, someone must be blamed and victims compensated, even when it is simply an accident. I let kids play and climb outdoors during the summer camps I teach. One summer a kid even broke an arm and needed stitches in his lip when he fell out of a tree. His mother was great about it. The week before he had broken his thumb during a baseball game. She believed that the alternative was not acceptable: having her child live a sterile, overly protected life.  Frivolous lawsuits lead us to overprotected children who cannot be children anymore. Their natural fearlessness is morphing into a fear of everything outdoors. I see it in students who are never outdoors, every bug and noise is a potential hazard and a trip to the woods is  a reason to experience  a rise in blood pressure. If we do not try to stop this, we are headed for a world in which children might just have to start wearing helmets on the trail, because after all, a tree branch just might fall on their heads.