From the article:

Risky play is associated with greater resilience, self-confidence, problem-solving and social skills such as cooperation, negotiation and empathy, according to studies by Sandseter and others. When a study in Leuven, Belgium, gave four- and six-year-olds just two hours a week of opportunities for risky play over the course of three months, their risk-assessment skills improved compared with those of children in a control group2. In this study, the risky play took place at school, in a gym class and in the classroom.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] shalafi 16 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (11 children)

Between the school system, parents and social media, GenZ is the wussiest, lock stepping, conformist, risk-adverse generation of all time.

"Gosh! What if I get in trouble?"

"Heavens me! What if I'm criticized on social media?"

"What if I'm told no?!"

Fuck me, asked one of my best friends (22) to do a thing with me. "What if we get in trouble?" "Uh, worst possible case? Someone says 'Stop that.'" Like being told "no" might involve cops.

There was an eye-opening reddit post about the whole thing. 12-years on reddit, that post still sticks with me. Read it. It's all honest discussion. (Yes, it starts about social skills, read on, you'll see what I'm getting at.)

TWO college professors chimed in saying their students would sit in the dark before class because no one had the guts to turn the lights on. "Uh, we didn't want to stand out or get in trouble."

You weren't allowed to take risks. Y'all have had the world stolen from you in 1,000 ways, ways you'll never know about.

EDIT: Reading those comments again right now. I'm 54, but my kids are 10 and 12, I weep for the youth. You've been fucked and think it's just normal life.

[–] FlashMobOfOne 5 points 2 days ago

I had so many neat adventures growing up, in part because we just got out and explored the woods behind my parents house and the neighborhood. Kinda glad I got to have a Goonies / Stranger Things existence.

load more comments (10 replies)