Famed for playing (among others) the tough Nanny McPhee, the actress has this to say (BabyCenter interview via FreeRangeKids):
I think it’s good to be brave because then you’re also slightly more able to cope with failure and failure of course is your best friend in every regard really. Children are brave and they’re more likely to take risks and they’re more likely to learn really important lessons.
That’s really what I mean by being brave, you know. That we take care of our children very carefully and that’s absolutely right, but in certainly my culture children are being so, I think, stifled by sort of health and safety so that they’re not climbing trees anymore, they’re not taking risks, physical risks anymore.
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One of my favorite quips from George Carlin:
“Grownups have taken all the fun out of being a kid, just to save a few thousand lives. It’s pathetic. What’s happening is, these soft, fruity baby-boomers, are raising a generation of soft, fruity kids, who aren’t even allowed to have hazardous toys, for Christ’s sakes. Shit. What ever happened to natural selection? Survival of the fittest? The kid who swallows too many marbles, doesn’t grow up to have kids of his own. Simple as that! Nature knows best. Nature should be able to kill off the weak and sickly and ignorant people, without interference from batting helmets and airbags. “