It's funny, the other day my wife and I were talking about childhood, and how we used to run around barefoot in the street... and we might eat berries and snails or other odd things "just because;" we rode our bicycles everywhere but certainly never wore helmets or pads. We dug holes in the ground, built forts and climbed trees... and GOT DIRTY.

Now there's a whole generation of what I call "snowplow parents" (e.g. they run in front of their kids and push everything risky or dangerous out of the way, so their kids never see the "reality" of life. Then the child leaves home at 18, 21 or whenever, and gets a really rude surprise when life is not as safe and protected as the parents taught them. Not very clever....