over-cautioning

Updated: May 12, 2025

For instance, truth, courage, and kindness are the great moral qualities to be instilled. Take courage, in its highest form moral courage. People can see this in such an obvious thing as animal courage. They will avoid over-cautioning children against physical dangers, knowing that the danger they talk much about will become a bug-bear to the child which it may never get rid of.

Sir Arthur Helps - Friends in Council — First Series