Jonathan Haidt

But on a playground where you can get hurt, then you have to take responsibility.

And by the time you have a couple of years, you banged your chin a few times on the monkey bars, whatever it is, then you learn how to handle yourself.

So risk turns out to be a crucial ingredient in a successful childhood.

We have to let our kids take risks.

It is.

So there's a key concept called anti-fragility.

If you're anti-fragile, so if you're fragile, like an egg, you know, you got to treat it gently or it'll break.

But if you're anti-fragile, this is a term coined by my NYU colleague, Nassim Taleb.

If you're anti-fragile, then you actually need a bunch of

crises, problems, even threats, things that you have to deal with that make you tougher and stronger.

And so the immune system is the perfect example of that.

If you're a parent, you protect your kid's immune system.

Don't let them be out in dirt or germs.

I don't want any bacteria to touch my child.

You're crippling the development of the immune system because the immune system needs repeated exposures to the pathogens in the environment to develop the antibodies.

And in the same way, life on this planet for all living creatures has always been tough, and most of them have died prematurely.

I mean, this is not, you know, life is serious stuff.

And so children have to go through a developmental process, mastering small threats and difficulties first, and then they get bigger and bigger and bigger, and they can wander further and further from home base, from their parents.

We block that.

We stop letting them do that.