Wrapped in cotton wool

I had an epiphany the other day after reading a magazine ad.

Normally I consider advertising to be the work of the devil.

But this picture – of a boy packaged in bubble wrap – epitomised modern day parenting.

We’re so over-protective of our children they end up like Bubble Boy, disconnected from the real world and afraid to take risks.

Let’s take a typical day in the Spicer household.

“Taj! Don’t climb that tree or you might fall and DIE!”

“Grace, don’t walk on the road or you might get hit by a car and DIE!”

“Jase, don’t drink twenty beers or you might pass out and DIE!”

(That last quote may or may not be true.)

The kids always stop singing their favourite SpongeBob SquarePants song when it gets to the bit about “I stick my head out the window and I look around”.

“We don’t stick our heads out car windows,” Gracie says sternly. “SpongeBob is naughty!”

Most days, I try to take the kids bike riding, skateboarding or swimming, only to be met with sheer terror.

“Mummy,” Taj says, shaking visibly, “I don’t want to ride the bike ‘cos I can’t stop at the traffic lights and I might DIE!”

At the beach, Gracie screams “Crabbies gonna eat me and I might DIE!” pointing at the centimetre-long crustacean scuttling away from her feet.

So how do we teach our kids caution and courage, at the same time?

I figure it’s an important lesson to learn before they reach the teenage years.

So last weekend, we let the kids test their boundaries.

I watched three-year-old Grace climb all the way to the top of the playground equipment without hovering underneath, arms outstretched, issuing warnings about falling and dying.

Jason pushed four-year-old Taj down the hill on his skateboard, by himself, without a helmet.

I did a pretty good job of pretending to be cool about this, until I almost fainted from holding my breath.

Jumping off the skatie like a rock-star, Taj beamed as he ran up to me yelling, “I ripped mummy! I really ripped!!!”

Priceless.

It seems this trend of ‘helicopter parenting’ is creating a generation of neurotic kids.

As we hover around, making sure they’re safe and secure every second of the day, we remove any opportunity to build bravery, self-sufficiency or independence.

A couple of days ago, after a late shift reading Sky News, I baulked at Taj climbing into our bed at the usual time of 5-30am.

“Mate, mummy’s really tired, could you go upstairs and play with your toys for a couple of minutes?” I pleaded.

Imagine my astonishment when I woke an hour-and-a-half later to the kids bringing me breakfast in bed.

During my extended slumber, they’d both managed to get dressed, make themselves breakfast and pack the bowls in the dishwasher: jobs normally performed by mum.

This weekend, why not see what daring feats your kids are capable of?

You might be surprised at how well they move outside the constraints of the bubble wrap.