Thursday, February 11, 2010

“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

1 comment:

Charity Anne said...

Okay so I was really thinking of Ricky as he is always doing something that would totally fit into this description. However the more I thought about it Billy does as well, just in a Billy sort of way. For instance this afternoon, right after I copied and pasted this quote...I watched Billy shimmy up to the top of the door framing and go from to room, to room, to room never touching the floor. I said to him "you have issues" His reply? "You can't deny that I have mad skills!"
True enough...spider man
Yes I have foot prints on my ceiling. My house is filled with creative, daring, adventurous boys!!