Prang! Go out and play!

What a job title!

Peter Cornall, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, must get great reactions when he hands over his business card. One look at his title and you have to wonder, is this the work of a stuffy, isolated, alarmist nerdy guy or cool, suave, favorite camp counselor guy?

Perhaps he's a favorite stuffy, cool, suave, alarmist, isolated, nerdy, camp counselor.

Whatever the case, Mr. Cornall is RoSPA's "Head of Leisure Safety." And as such, Mr. Cornall has a message for all of us parents. Namely:

Throw the kids out of the house!

He doesn't mean abandon them, of course. He just means send them outside, and fret less about doing so.

The RoSPA notes that the modern parent is overprotective. For example, 43% of the parents they surveyed said kids should not be allowed to play outside unsupervised until they are 14.

Fourteen?

If anything, fourteen is when the supervision should resume! I mean, it's cute when a toddler says, "Happy Burfday, Gramma," but if the candles on the cake have the numbers 5 and 3 and they are not in that order, it's a problem.

While it sounds counter-intuitive, the RoSPA rightly points out that kids need to get hurt more, and can only do so if parents stop being such ninnies. Kids need scrapes and bruises - and occasionally a cast - to learn for themselves what they can and can not do and, more importantly, why.

Overprotective parents, myself included, teach their kids to fear injury, when what kids ought to be learning is how to smartly avoid injury. And by constantly stopping the kids from feeling any pain, parents fail to teach them how to live with the pain they will inevitably feel in their lives.

Besides, as the RoSPA points out, sheltered kids are not necessarily remaining free from injury. Carpal tunnel syndrome and tendonitis in the trigger finger aren't exactly the best things for a kid to face.

I must say that since I moved out of my apartment, which was located next to the intersection of a freeway and major arterial route, behind a gas station and across the street from a row of motels that turned into housing for some less than upstanding members of the community, I have been much more generous with giving the kids outside time. It certainly helps that my daughter is more than happy to walk or bike to her friends' houses.

I'd like to think that the years being cooped up will give the kids an appreciation for the freedoms they are getting now. I'd like to think that they've at least gained an understanding of some of the hazards that exist, which is helping them make better decisions when they are looking for stuff to do now. I'd like to think that they'll look back on this time in their lives and say, "Wow, although he was rightly concerned about our safety and well-being, he was a cool, suave, favorite camp-counselor kind of dad."

I'd like to think all of that, but then I listen to my daughter nad realize what kind of stuffy, isolated, alarmist nerd I've been all this time.