My Uncle Sidney was a Dennis the Menace, cherry-bomb-hoarding, dare-devil, flippant, practical-joking, rebel-without-a-clue.
And my Grandpa kept the household gun in an unlocked bedside table.
You know what happened in this situation? NOTHING.
Nothing happened, because my Uncle Sidney grew up on playgrounds that had slides and monkey bars and other equipment that a kid could really get hurt on if he wasn't thinking. He grew up with broken teeth and broken bones. He knew pain. He knew cause and effect. He knew there were things worse than getting caught. He knew that gun was one of those things.
The modern fashionable preference for "parenting" a consumerist hobby in which one lavishes attention and toys on a highly controlled indoor pet instead of "child-rearing" the adventure of guiding a rapidly changing creature to self-sufficiency of mind, body, and soul has nothing to do with your suitability as a parent.
That said, let me recommend _Why Don't You Have Kids?_ (out of print, fron your library) for you and anyone else wanting to consider both the pros and the cons of having their own children.
A ship is safe in the harbor.
And my Grandpa kept the household gun in an unlocked bedside table.
You know what happened in this situation? NOTHING.
Nothing happened, because my Uncle Sidney grew up on playgrounds that had slides and monkey bars and other equipment that a kid could really get hurt on if he wasn't thinking. He grew up with broken teeth and broken bones. He knew pain. He knew cause and effect. He knew there were things worse than getting caught. He knew that gun was one of those things.
The modern fashionable preference for "parenting" a consumerist hobby in which one lavishes attention and toys on a highly controlled indoor pet instead of "child-rearing" the adventure of guiding a rapidly changing creature to self-sufficiency of mind, body, and soul has nothing to do with your suitability as a parent.
That said, let me recommend _Why Don't You Have Kids?_ (out of print, fron your library) for you and anyone else wanting to consider both the pros and the cons of having their own children.