Would you let yours do this?

[spencer]

Took the kids on the Bristol - Bath cycle track yesterday.
Anyway they rode on ahead, & I was walking, as I got near to a bridge this guy was letting his daughter ( I assume) walk along the top of the bridge??:nono:

Now is it me, or does this seem a little bit dangerous?, there was a 20 foot drop the other side into a fast flowing river.
And you can see the top of the bridge is covered in rivets,making difficult to walk on.:thumbsdown:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s48/spencer_100/silly-7323Medium.jpg?t=1185957223

[InaGlo]

Jeeesus Christ!!!:eek:

Do you think that guy has had enough of the summer holidays already!

What kind of adult assists their child risks to risk life & limb in such a way!!!
Infact looking at it, I cant see how she got up there herself... he must have put her up there! :gag:

[Grendel]

Absolutely b****y insane! What was he thinking? Some people are so irresponsible :bat:

[Marik]

at least he gave her a helmet.

[Steep]

I'm sure he wouldn't have let her do it if he didn't think she was safe enough and it's better she did it with him to watch over her than do it on her own sometime.

On my scale of parental stupidity that gets about a 1 or 1.5 out of 10

[Kev M]

I'm with steep on this one. His hands are close enough to her ankles to grab her should she slip. At least he's not wrapping her up in cotton wool or sticking her in front of the telly on a beautiful day.

[spannerdude]

Interesting paradox.
Make your kid wear a cycle helmet... on a cycle track, not even a public road. Then put them on top a bridge parapet. :shrug:

It fills me with a mixture of emotions though. It's shocking to see but as a kid I'd have been up there like a shot, although my parents would have made me get down pretty sharp too. Putting yourself in grave jeopardy in this way is how you learn to evaluate danger. I have developed a rat like instinct for survival so on the whole I think the stupid things I did throughout my life have been of benefit to me.

In some ways I don't have a huge problem with it. Humans don't have any natural predators any more, so this could be seen as natural selection. Stupid people die. Here's a stupid person who has already bred, he might have passed on his idiot gene already? Is this natures way of saying "Hey! Gene Police, you, out of the pool!":nono:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating euthenasia for the stupid but maybe we should just take all the warning labels off everything and let nature take it's course?

[Chillimonster]

I've done this with my two children, but i had my hand within inches of them, to grab 'just-in-case'

I worry more when they are out on the front on their bikes, too many idiots in cars for my liking that think they are still on their playstations playing grand theft auto.

[natjag]

chillimonster, your tag/signiture is very apt for this thread.

[Yv]

Would I have tried to do it as a kid? Yes! Aswell as umpteen other things that were bloody dangerous should something have gone wrong. Like spannerdude says, we all develop a sense of survival from such antics. I think we recall the poem for the over 35's, about how did we ever manage to live through being allowed to go off on our bikes all day and still be home for tea, etc,.... I often think that one of the many reasons for the teenage mayhem we have today is that we are over protective of younger children, they dont get the freedom we once did because mass media has brought into our homes how dangerous the world 'can' be, so when they do finally get some, too many go looking for danger 'kicks' they sadly inexprerienced enough to handle and have little by way of self preservation instinct or sense of responsibility....combined with a slight sense of being indestructable [we all thought that I think it just seems today they push the boudaires further] bred of spending too many of their formative years sitting infront of movies and games consoles.

**ehem** sorry, mini rant over :nuts:


Whats wrong with that picture? He could be holding her hand and isn't! At that age her sense of balance will be pretty good but not perfect, and though his hands may be close enough to grab her, is it worth the test?

[Steep]

I think it just seems today they push the boudaries further

My comment here is slightly o.t. for this thread but ^ that's what kids do, all kids, the trick for the parents is to know when to make those boundaries firm and when to let them stretch a little.

[Yv]

My comment here is slightly o.t. for this thread but ^ that's what kids do, all kids, the trick for the parents is to know when to make those boundaries firm and when to let them stretch a little.

Agreed, though I was thinking more along the lines of what todays kids do that could have dangerous consequences, against what we did, based on a teens inability to comprehend their own mortality. The irony of course is that as parents, when things do go wrong, which they always did, we hear a lot more about it due to mass media, than our parents did, so are probably more protective, and in doing so, keeping them at home instead of kicking them out to play, etc, we are exposing them more to graphic TV/Film/games images that only reinforce the 'immortal' conviction they have. Like you say, its a case of setting firm limits, knowing when to stretch them and knowing when to force them to take the responsibility of their choices......





....who said parenting was easy? :bang:

[Marcel]

Nope I wouldn't.

I prefer my children to be terrorising the neighbourhood and making it look horrible through chalk.

[Janice]

I did think it dangerous...in fact I was shocked when I first looked but to be honest his hand is directly by her leg.

When I was about 8 I used to spend the summer holidays out in the countryside, mostly alone, sometimes with other kids. I often used to walk across a rounded log across the river... very high up.

There are risks all through life, I know children are precious, I have 2 of my own, but you do them no favours by wrapping them in cotton wool.... she has her Dad there with her and she's having a wonderful time.

[Janice]

Nope I wouldn't.

I prefer my children to be terrorising the neighbourhood and making it look horrible through chalk.


:D :lol:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/dirtbox/pics/muttley.gif

[Dark Star]

Hmmm maybe he's trying to talk her down after she's had a bad reaction to a traumatic episode of tellytubbies?

[Kev M]

Genius, Dark Star.

[Lady Pitstop]

Yes probably but only if they was holding my hand, had a five point harness and attached to a rope which was in turn attached to a very sturdy post :D:D

Seriously though, I probably would only if they was holding my hand.

[spencer]

His hand was about 6-8" away from her ankle, & the girl was about 6 years old.

I just think its complete idiocy on the adults behalf, he could of easily of sat here on the bridge whilst still holding on to her??