QotD: On free-range parenting

“Without interrupting a child in the moment of action, proper care might previously be taken to remove out of its way those things which can really hurt it, and a just degree of attention must be paid to [the child's] first experiments upon hard and heavy, and more especially upon sharp and brittle, and burning bodies; but this degree of care should not degenerate into cowardice. It is better that a child should tumble down or burn its fingers, than it should not learn the use of its limbs or its senses.”
~ novelist Maria Edgeworth, confirming that risk can be educational. From her 1787 book (yes, 1787) 'Practical Education,' as quoted in the 'New Yorker' article 'The Hidden Women of Architecture and Design.'.