That's a brilliant site and I have only read a little bit!! I don't have kids and I don't want 'em, but damnit if I did they would be allowed to ride their bikes all summer long, to wherever they wanted WITHOUT A HELMET.
The freedom I enjoyed as a kid is irreplacable. I woudn't trade it for anything. Did I do stupid stuff? Absolutely!!! But did I learn stuff? Oh yeah! Just about everything that makes me who I am today!!! I wouldn't trade it for nuthin'!
A couple months ago my neighbors 8 year old son painted the town orange...literally. He and his buddy from down the street found some orange marker paint at a nearby consturction site. They proceeded to paint stuff. A lot of stuff. One of those things that they painted just happened to be the driver's side rear wheel and tire of my VX. Yup, the whole thing, rubber, wheel, center cap, dayglo orange.My neighbor saw it before I did and tried to clean as much off as possible and brought the kid over crying to apologize. I was not happy, to say the least, but I was understanding. Every little kid (especially boys) do stuff like this, and they learn from it (hopefully) and turn out better because of it.
A couch and video games are the worst thing for any child.
Bart