RULE 11

 Rule 11: Leave children alone when they are skateboarding.

This is an ambitious chapter that deals primarily with the concept of "strengthening and encouraging others in your care instead of protecting them to the point of weakness."

Peterson grabbed my undivided attention with the line, "Boys are suffering in the modern world." I couldn't agree more. When I see our neighbor's young daughter wearing a tee shirt with the slogan. 'I'm a girl! What's your super power?' I realize that boys these days are certainly off the main stage.

Peterson challenges the notion that gender differences are socially constructed and that society would be better served by an absolute equality between the sexes. In fact, he claims that in countries that have tried hard to 'feminize' boys, there has been an uptick in men's interest in harsh, fascist political ideology. He goes on to refute the notion that our culture is the result of male oppression and he denounces university disciplines  that are "forthrightly hostile towards men." He then takes on the likes of Marx and Jean Paul Sartre who equated oppression with patriarchy. All very interesting if not provocative reading.

The underlying theme of the chapter is that for children to develop independence, they must be allowed to be risk takers when the spirit moves them. No argument there. Whenever we visit our granddaughters in Ottawa, we are amazed, if not frightened, as we watch the girls climb trees in the park. Reminds me so much of my childhood when I would climb to the top of a giant oak tree at our family cottage. 

Most parents these days try as much as possible to keep their kids as safe as possible, from rubberized play grounds surfaces to elbow pads for bike riders. Gone are the days of letting children play unsupervised on the street or light firecrackers (remember the cannons and the ladyfingers?) indiscriminately. I understand that those were much different times but Peterson suggests that bubble wrapping kids does them a disservice, especially boys who need to be allowed opportunities to test their limits. 

Makes me want to go and wrestle with my two year and a half year old grandson this weekend.