Do you put your children on your shoulders?

Who hasn’t let their children ride on their shoulders. It is a right of passage in most cultures! Dads (and Moms) let kids ride on their shoulders all the time.

Why do it? It’s fun, it’s exciting!

It’s intimate, it’s easy on the parent’s body – there are a lot of reasons to do it, especially in crowds! Are there risks? Honestly, I’ve never heard even the slightest whisper of a warning against riding kids on your shoulders until now. I recently wrote a blog about How kids survived the ’70s and in researching for that I came across articles and comments made by today’s parents that find riding children on your shoulders to be EXTREMELY dangerous! People ! What  Has this world of parenting come to!

I have to admit that I am rolling my eyes. Let your kids have some fun and relax a bit! Parents enjoy it and the kids  as well and unless you has difficulty walking and are prone to tripping, then I see nothing wrong

with riding kids on your shoulders. Of all the things to worry about in this world and the safety of your children, this one seems just silly and I think our society has gotten so over-protective of kids that we forget that they are just kids and need to have some fun and get their knees dirty sometimes.

I also feel it is essential in creating trust between the parent and child. It also encourages confidence and allows a child to feel fearless in a safe way.

Look, Mom I way up high!

Look, I am taller than Daddy!

With that said I would NEVER have allowed my children to ride on anyone other than my husband. I actually had the experience of my son being picked up and put on someone elses’ shoulders and he did not appreciate it. But as you can see from this picture, He had the utmost confidence in his father. In my opinion, riding on shoulders creates memories that last a life time.

I would also never allow any of my staff to put the children in our care, at Langmobile, on their shoulders. Not so much for safety but for the right that that sort of play is reserved for parents, it is an intimate moment that in my opinion it is sacred.