# World More Dangerous for Kids?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-more-dangerous-for-kids/721108>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 29, 2015, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-more-dangerous-for-kids/721108 "2015-05-29T12:50:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-more-dangerous-for-kids/721108/41 "2015-06-01T23:50:15Z")

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> [@Skott](#):
>
> Sure, the odds against it are astronomical, something on the lines of winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning. But then… people do win the lottery and do get struck by lightning. So thus we take action against such things. And why wouldn’t we? We don’t want our kids to end up on the wrong side of the odds.

Why wouldn’t you? Because, presumably, you want your kids to grow up to be confident in their own abilities, capable of reasoning in unfamiliar situations, and not afraid of every little thing that comes their way. We now have cases where college students are seeking psychological help for disturbingly mundane reasons, because their parents never made them DEAL with stuff growing up.

You want to talk about odds? Your kids are far, far more likely to die in an accident at home or in your vehicle than they are to be kidnapped by a stranger. It’s more dangerous to drag a kid across a busy parking lot than to leave him/her alone in the car for 5 minutes on a cool day.

And yet, parents _routinely_ do things that present these much greater risks to their kids than letting them ride their bikes down to the corner store or play at the park unsupervised.  
Powers &8^]

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