Seth Godin on On Being with Krista Tippit, part 4. I have gotten a whole lot more from this podcast, but these four blog posts are what made it into visible form.

They end their talk with talking about how we encourage or discourage children to contribute to society. Seth ponders:

Kids’ role as a contributor to society starts now when they are ten, not when they are twenty four, and that the trail they leave behind starts the minute someone snaps their picture.

If we can teach children that there isn’t this bright line between off duty and on duty, but that life is life, and you ought to live it like people are looking at you, cuz they are. Then we trust them, and we trust them to be bigger than they could be, because they chose to be bigger.

And it’s that teaching, I think, that’s so difficult to do as a parent, cuz what you really want to do is protect them and lock ‘em up until it’s time, but the bravest thing to do is have these free range kids, exploring the edges of their universe, but doing it in ways they are proud of, not hiding from.

Wow, I must say that to me defines the shift we need to take in society, to start to build a sustainable and constantly learning society. Let us encourage free range kids, kids who explore the edges of their universe!

What might happen if you expored the edges of your universe?