Book Review: 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do) By Gever Tulley and Julie Spiegler

I recently received a copy of the book 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) by Gever Tulley and Julie Spiegler to review.


50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children Do) contains fifty different activities and projects for your child to do, with "how-to" sections, a requirement list, warnings, and supplementary data. It also includes a field notes page on the opposite side where your child can take notes as they perform the "experiments" and share their thoughts and observations about what they were doing - as well as any ideas for improvement the next time they try it out (if there is a next time). At the back of the book is a skill section, for learning things such as map reading and knot tying. It also tells you just why you should be trying each activity out. Projects include fun projects, such as #24 - Construct Your Own Flying Machine, and every day things like #25 - Look At The Sun.

In today's world of helicopter parenting and flipping out each time your child actually - gasp! - touches dirt, we end up with books like 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do). I admit I did a double take - many of the things mentioned in the book I did as a kid, and geesh, I'm still alive and just fine. It almost makes you wonder if we are raising a generation of couch potato wimps. ;) I mean, really, look at the sun? Um, c'mon? She does that all the time - wait, OK, when the sun is actually shining, anyways. (lol)

There are a few projects that I feel you may want to beware - #20, Squash Pennies On A Railroad Track technically is illegal - after all, you are defacing federal property per se, and I'm not sure that I'd like to teach my child that doing something like that is OK - because it's not. Perhaps substituting a Chuck E. Cheese coin would be a bit more appropriate? #7, Drive A Car, is another hot push button one that while I know we all did as kids with our parents, probably isn't a good idea, especially since it IS illegal. Many of the projects probably need adult supervision - or at least a heads up depending on your child's age, such as #22, Bend Hot Steel, which uses a hot fire. (It's not that I would think that they would accidentally hurt themselves, but being from Texas, we know all too well the danger of what can happen if a fire outside isn't put out correctly) And I admit, I would be very angry if #13, Boil water In A Paper Cup, was done on MY stove. She could clean it up after that one! ;)

We're working on #27, Make A Slingshot. DH is all excited. Me? Not so much. My poor flowers are going to get a beating, I fear. (Here's hoping the two of them don't break any windows. Course, I'd probably just laugh - I'm not the one who has to fix it, after all! Bwhaha. ;) I'd probably peg this book to be more in the range of 8 and up, although many of the projects could be done with the help of younger siblings (#29, Perform On The Street) Some of these projects and skills could be seriously great fun over Summer vacation for kids. (and some may help stop the "I'm Bored Mom!" you may hear way too often)

You can visit the book's official website here.

50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Children do) by Gever Tulley and Julie Spiegler is a paperback parenting activity book published by New American Library and available at your favorite bookstore. It is 127 pages long. The suggested cover price is $18.00, but Amazon has it available for $12.24 as of this posting. It is also available as an e-book for the Kindle and other e-readers.

Please note that I received a copy of this book in order to share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own, and not that of the author(s) or publisher.