50 Dangerous Things: 20 - Squash Pennies on a Railroad Track

I have to admit this stretched my limits as a relaxed, flexible, go-with-the-flow individual and parent. I feel I have always had the ideal that parenting is not about protecting my children from any kind of harm. The Free-Range movement articulated by Lenore Skenazy validates much of the way I feel, though, of course, there is always a spectrum. Rather, I think a lot of parenting is about creating and providing experiences that cause children to grow, to be more thoughtful, to be stronger, and to be confident and knowledgeable about who they are and the possibilities of what they can become. Philosophy aside, I couldn't help but imagine that one of my kids would do something "stupid" resulting in tragedy. I tried to be relaxed because my understanding is that anxiety can be a catalyst for accidents. Am I hyper-sensitive for having this "movie" play through my head and feeling this way? I explained a simple structure for safety, but I'm a teacher and I know that (sometimes to our detriment) experience is the best teacher. I was firm in reminding them when I felt they exhibited carelessness. Needless to say, I am thankful my kids have begun to have experiences around the tracks. About five minutes after we placed the pennies on the track a train rolled by. They got to experience the size and speed of the train from outside of the car at a close range. After we came home to show Kim the squished pennies Ethan was excited to point out that we didn't get a ticket, we didn't get hit by a projectile, and we didn't get hit by the train! - the three points of danger highlighted in the book. I was pretty pleased we came away unscathed as well. :-) "Whoa!" pretty much sums up the kids' comments on this activity. Though, part of me thinks I observed a little disappointment from the boys when the squished penny didn't end up with a printed image of some kind, like with the machines at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. They got over it soon enough. I don't know what they are going to do with a squished penny, but they think it's pretty cool. We went back later with Kim and took a nice walk along the tracks by the river.