Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do

For anyone who doesn't know yet, I'm going to be a father this September. Even though this was planned, I got instinctively nervous at first, the thought of taking care of another life beyond that of my two cats terrified me.

But then after some research and book-reading I've come to terms with the inevitable, and have gotten excited over the concept of training my own little soldier to go out and animate some scenes for me at the low cost of an ice cream cone or a movie. Above is a neat little clip I found, it made me excited about the prospect of dismantling an appliance with my future son or daughter.

Gever Tulley, founder of the Tinkering School, talks about our new wave of overprotected kids—and spells out five (and really, he’s got six) dangerous things you should let your kids do. Allowing kids the freedom to explore, he says, will make them stronger and smarter and actually safer.

This talk comes from TED University 2007, a pre-conference program where TEDsters share ideas.

To sum up, let children:

1. Play with fire


2. Own a pocket knife


3. Throw a spear


4. Deconstruct appliances


5. Drive a car