Happy New Year! and boiling oil and risk

So, there we are, New Years probably 1978. I was about 5  my brother 8, and there in the middle of our table is a boiling pot of oil perched on a platform atop an open flame with pointy sticks in it. Times have changed...I love fondu, so I just bought an electric pot (also, the open flame one doesn't stay hot enough to do Japanese Hot Pot cooking that I love.) So, I think this New Year's we will do our own, 21st century "safer" version of fondu. No open flames or boiling oil perched on a platform. (Sorry Mom, if you're reading this, I exchanged the fancy cheese-knife set for the electric fondu... I hope you aren't mad... We'll have hot-pot when you visit :)Our generation simply has a different view of risk, for better or for worse– largely worse I think. While I think it's probably not a good idea to have hot oil on a table with young children (though there was never an incident with us)  it's probably OK to let them play outside on their own, or not obsess about high-fructose corn syrup.There is a pervasive worry and hysteria today about what kids are eating and what they weigh. From the mom of a healthy nine-month-old, "Every time I feed my daughter I feel like I am on a knife-edge between anorexia and obesity." All part of the cultural anxiety and hysteria, and not helpful. (Do you think our mothers would have used an  app to tell them how many ounces or servings of fruits/veggies we needed every day? Would our grandmothers have obsessed over weigh-ins and grams of sugar? Times change.)I heard part of a radio interview on risk and the researcher said something like "We really need to fear our inability to accurately assess risk."I think of the mom I talked to who wanted to research protein before serving her  healthy child a meat lasagna as she read  somewhere that too much protein can cause kidney problems, or the mom that worried her one-year-old wasn't getting enough protein so she served chicken nuggets five times a week since it was the only protein he reliably ate... The worry doesn't help, in fact, the worry and doubt negatively affected feeding in both these scenarios. Are there things you think you worry about, possibly unnecessarily?Are there things your parents did/let you do that you would never consider? Is it a good thing?here's my short list

• oil fondu
• go to the local park alone in second grade (there was a great pond there too!)
• bike without a helmet (I blame an incident in my medical training for my fear of head injuries)
• sleep under the back window of the car on long car trips...