It is really hard to say if those parents were making the right or wrong decisions for their child. I guess I will give them the benefit of the doubt cause it is difficult call.

I was a pretty tough kid when I was growing up and if you had asked me to quit I would NOT!

As far as being cold - it probably was not a good idea for the child to be out there, cause children do not have quite as good of temperature control of their body as adults. I'm not really sure when that begins to change.

But, from experience, I used to go horse back riding in Ohio all winter long and if someone told me I could not go because of the weather, I was that much more determined to go! We used to take the coal cinders from the stove and go outside, dump them on the ice in the ring, and then take crowbars and pick at the ice until it was safe for the horses so they would not slide and then we would ride for a couple of hours. This was before all the hi tech clothing that is out these days too! We would get so cold and our hands and feet were just gone. You had to be really careful not to hit the ground very hard, but let yourself down really easy or it was torture!

Anyway, I would never quit! I loved riding way too much and there was no way I was going to stop cause of the weather conditions. Anyway, no harm was ever done and we all survived without frostbite or anything else serious.

So, maybe the parents were just trying to instill some confidence into the boy. It really is pretty hard to tell.