If it weren't for them and their rules and regulations and guidelines, my daughter will probably not make it to her fifth birthday, let alone become an adult. I no doubt would have naively sent her to a kindergarten with a playground made of wood, the splinters and tears that would have abounded don't bear thinking about. Perhaps it would even have had a giant slide which she might slip on or fall off and possibly, god forbid, a rope swing on which she probably would fall off and break an arm, or even worse, get rope burn.
If it weren't for their wisdom, I might actually believe my daughter at just six or seven years old, would be smart enough to go and play by herself for the afternoon and not get lost or fall into a river, or jump off a hay bale and land on her tummy, winding herself or discovering rotten eggs smell awful when she threw them at the wall. In fact, thinking back, I'm not sure how I survived any of those things at all!
If it weren't for them I would most likely have thought it was ok to go bike riding without a helmet now and then, and play bullrush and get dirty. If she decides she wants to skateboard, I wouldn't have thought to give her a helmet and knee pads! I might have let her build a raft out of drift wood and see if it floated in the estuary with her on it, or drive in a car across a farm without a seatbelt, or even worse, let her change the gears or even steer the steering wheel while sitting on my lap! If only these guidelines had been around to inform my own parents when I was small. I still have nightmares now because of the trauma I went through.
When we go camping in the future, I might have let her sleep on the top bunk before she was nine. Maybe I would let her try to light the camp fire or worse, let her hold a marshmallow over the flames on a tinder try stick. I myself, have never recovered from that time my marshmallow fell off into the fire and my stick caught fire, and the time I tested the fire door to see if it was hot with my toe, well lets just say, forever scarred!
So, lets take a moment, to acknowledge the incredible gift of safety the government has given us by alerting us to all these things.
I shudder to think what a traumatic childhood my daughter would be heading for if it weren't for them. Clearly, most of us aren't actually capable of looking after our kids at all, and I am mistaken in thinking my daughter will going to be able to think for herself or learn from bad experiences before she is at least 18. Until then, I will make sure everything that could possibly harm her remains locked away, in fact, lets go further, I won't let her leave the house. Possibly, ever.
And before you tell me that most accidents occur in the home, let me tell you something. We're going to be fine, because the government has given us endless hours of educational fun, in the form of this invaluable online game.
Thank you NZ Government. Thank you.
http://www.acc.co.nz/PRD_EXT_CSMP/fragments/dangerrangers/home/index.html
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