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I hope my brother can be that way for my (eventual, currently-theoretical) kids, lostgirl. I'd love to be that way for my (actual, non-theoretical) nephew, when the time comes.
I think kids need SOME boundary-free areas. I think they need to explore, they need to skin their knees. Otherwise they end up out in the world expecting everything to be padded to complete safety the way their playground was. Have you SEEN playgrounds these days? Appalling. I'm going to get my kid a stick off a tree and tell them to go play in the creek. The woman who let her 12-year-old take the subway home alone is my hero. They need to learn that the world is basically safe if they have their head on straight.
I intend to protect them from what real dangers are out there--and even more than that, to protect the world from the worst of their childishness.
That's my strategy when they're young. I haven't made my plan for when they're teens.
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