Great read :)
I think you have the right awareness and approach, even though this may well be seen as making a rod for your own back.
I remember playing a game of hide and seek in the park one Sunday with my daughter, she was maybe 4/5 at the time. We'd take turns hiding behind trees and each turn of mine, I'd go a little further away to hide.
On the 5/6th turn, I made a decent run for it and hid behind a large tree, with a feeling she wouldn't search so far. I watched her start the seeking and continually until her hopes dropped to the point she stopped moving. At that point I appeared and made my way over.
She was a little upset, but I assured her I was always watching, and soon enough all was forgiven.
Mean? Too much space? Perhaps, but I wanted to give her as much freedom as she could cope with that day, whilst keeping a watchful eye.
There is a growing trend to do this more and more and send children further afield. Especially in the US where they are worried about pedos, they have sheltered children a lot (in some communities). If children can learn to be alone, solve their own issues and the like, they grow into self-directed adults who can negotiate. This is why the artificial limitations in schoolyards are so harmful I think.
Kids are much more capable than we give them credit.
Right. There was a growth plan in my head at the time. And yeah, I was watching constantly, even though the park was pretty empty at the time.
Yep, the cotton-wool parents not really seeing this and setting their kids up for a stark reality as young adults :)
I meet quite a lot of the protected as they are coming into the workplace now. Some companies that try to bend to the will of the millennials are setting themselves up for disaster as their wants change with the breeze and they don't stick around long enough in one spot to build a foundations. The ones that can manage their gratification will own the world soon enough.