When people think of advice, they often point to the best advice they got from a mentor, teacher, or some other artisan
What people don’t think about very often is the notion of bad advice
Bad advice is given to us all the time, and most of the time you probably find that you don’t even acknowledge it
Other times though, you may find yourself taking it to heart and putting it into practice only to be kicking yourself at some later time
Don’t worry, everyone goes through this
Some advice though is given at such an early and impressionable age that it might still have some lasting impact on us
This leads me to the question,
What is the single worst piece of advice you have ever gotten?
If you can’t think of one, I think I can nail one down sufficiently for you
“Don’t talk to strangers”
Remember this little tidbit you were fed from the first moment you could walk and talk and even poop your own pants
The heart of the advice is in the right place, protect the kids from all of the bad people that may hurt them
Has anyone really thought about the implications of this?
Its one thing to have kids avoid people telling them to get into cars when they don’t know who they are, that’s smart parenting
When a child is inherently told not to trust people, the consequences could prove to damper their growth and potential for years to come
Strangers are not bad people, I can count on two hands how many strangers I have ever met in life that ever struck me as people you should absolutely stay away from
Children should have some freedom to operate
I don’t necessarily want them running up to every person they see and saying hi, but I know that is a far better situation than a child who is too shy to talk to anyone but their parents
Talking to new people has so many positive benefits that the positives for a child far outweigh the negatives
Confidence, learning, personal growth, cultivation of creativity, etc
There is a laundry list of things that a child will gain from being more proactive about new people
Is my idea radical? Maybe
I say if we had a whole generation of kids who were never taught that rule and never had it impact their lives, we would be looking at the next group of people to establish world peace, technological revolutions, and other random acts of amazing-ness
So make sure your child knows where the real dangers lie, and encourage them to expand and reach out to the many people that surround them
Don’t be a stranger
Gabriel
Leave a Reply