Review of Ellen Goodman's Article "The First Thing They Took was Her Childhood"

Ellen Goodman's, Boston Globe, article "The first thing they took was her childhood" cautions about the dangers of permissive parenting, while telling about a little girl named Jessica Dubroff. Jessica died at the young age of 7, along with her father and flight instructor, while piloting a plane from coast to coast across the United States. She was like most other kids with her excitement of flying, and was filled with the anticipation of seeing and doing new things. While media coverage made Jessica out to be a brave young pilot, the article reminds that above anything else, she was still only a child. No one knows what caused the plane to go down that day, or whether the choice to fly this trip was hers, "what her dad wanted", or both. What we do know is that parenting is a delicate dance back and forth between permission and restriction. Too much of either can not only be harmful to the wellbeing of a child, but can be fatal. Rightly said, "we tell our children to act their age" but oftentimes, when we ask this of them, we are asking them to act like adults. The lines between age-appropriate achievements have not always been very easy to distinguish, and achievements that are made before a child might be physically and mentally ready are often rewarded.

The article serves as a good reminder about the conflicting expectations imposed by parents and society on children during their crucial years of development. While it is never easy to talk about those who have died in a negative way, hopefully this article and similar articles can help parents to better see what dangers their children might face when allowed too much freedom. Choice for a child is good, it establishes trust and confidence, but however it should be up to the parents whether the choices they are allowing their child to make are safe enough. Accidents and tragedy take place in life during perfectly safe environments and circumstances, without increasing the dangers a child may face.

While my feelings on responsibilities that should be allowed to children do not follow the norm, I agree with the views expressed in the article. I am, and have been since the day I first sat behind a steering wheel, of the opinion that automobile licenses should be earned only through years of practice and instruction. There are skills that can only be mastered with maturity and age, and I feel flying and driving involve those skills. The basic skills to drive and fly might be easy enough for a child to understand; unfortunately basic skills are not all it takes to perform either of these responsibilities safely.

The timeline for child development is not set in stone, each child is an individual who will grow and learn at their own speed. What is the sense then in leaping ahead only to miss out on what takes place along the way?