Boys [should be] inured from childhood to trifling risks and slight dangers of every possible description, such as tumbling into ponds and off of trees, etc., in order to strengthen their nervous system.. They ought to practice leaping off heights into deep water. They ought never to hesitate to cross a stream over a narrow unsafe plank for fear of a ducking. They ought never to decline to climb up a tree, to pull fruit merely because there is a possibility of their falling off and breaking their necks. I firmly believe that boys were intended to encounter all kinds of risks, in order to prepare them to meet and grapple with risks and dangers incident to man’s career with cool, cautious self-possession..R.M. Ballantyne
About This Quote
In the early Victorian era, educators believed that boys should be given "rough and tumble" play with other boys. In particular, boys should be encouraged to take risks and to suffer from any number of minor injuries. This way, a boy's nervous system would become stronger and more resistant to injury. For this reason, boys should be surrounded by all kinds of risks.
They should leap off cliffs, fall off trees, and climb trees despite the risk of falling from them. They should run through streams without worrying about the risk of getting wet. They should climb up trees as high as they can go.
In fact, they should do all these things without concern for their own safety. The idea was that boys will learn to fear danger only after they have been exposed to it.
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