Restrain with restraint
Last year, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland signed a bill into law that requires all Ohio children to be strapped into booster seats. Under the law, children 4 through 8 and who are under 4 feet, 9 inches in height are required to be strapped into a booster seat.While I'm in favor of keeping children safe, I find that his law seems pretty intrusive. It was not that long ago (humor me) that I would have fallen into that category, requiring me to ride in a booster seat. In fact, if height were the only factor, I am mere inches away from being forcibly restrained, myself.
I remember riding around in station wagons with backseats facing a giant retractable window at the rear of the vehicle with more kids than seatbelts – and we all lived. I also recall riding in the back of my dad's work van in which there were no seats, let alone seat belts. My sisters and I would have to lean on giant spools of cable wire and hang on tight. Sometimes, Dad would hit the breaks so we would fly off and land on the floor – which we thought was absolutely hysterical. And I've never had a broken bone.
My point is that kids are going to get injured and have to learn how to protect themselves on their own. If we, as a society, continue to coddle children beyond the necessary stages of infancy, we are going to get a generation of big, overgrown babies.
Unfortunately, we almost certainly have gotten to that point. Most kids I know play outside and roughhouse and get scrapes and bruises on a regular basis and I think that's wonderful. But it's definitely not the norm.
Sports teams are encouraged to give out awards not based on merit, but just for participating. I played softball for several years, and do you know what? I was terrible! Not once did my team get to go out for ice cream after a loss and I didn't get a trophy for showing up. What I did get, however, is much more important. I learned that sometimes, you're just not going to be the best at what you're doing. Sometimes you might not even be average! That is what caused me to find other interests. I happen to be pretty good at drawing. I know I'm not the best, but I can hold my own in a game of Pictionary.
I think I'm probably shouting into the wind on this issue, partly because I have no children, and partly because I'm no expert in any of the matters I've discussed, but I hope that people will learn to cut the proverbial apron strings and let kids be kids. They're probably not going to die if they scrape their knee on the sidewalk, and they aren't likely to grow up with self-esteem issues just because they didn't get a trophy for showing up to little league. But if parents continue on this path, kids will probably have a whole slew of other issues that require a whole team of therapists to work through.
So, as you head out to the nearest department store to purchase booster seats for your third-graders, please consider using a little restraint yourself. Let your kids get dirty and sick and hurt feelings and bruises. Your country will thank you for it when we're not bombarded with generation of wimps.