But do not announce your decision till _after_ you have heard all that they have to say, if you intend to hear what they have to say at all.
If there are any objections to what the children propose which affect the question in relation to it as a means of _amusement for them_, you may state them in the way of information for them, _after_ you have given your consent.

In that way you present the difficulties as subjects for their consideration, and not as objections on your part to their plan.

But, however serious the difficulties may be in the way of the children's accomplishing the object which they have in view, they constitute no objection to their making the attempt, provided that their plans involve no serious harm or damage to themselves, or to any other person or interest.
_The Wrong Way_.
Two boys, for example, William and James, who have been playing in the yard with their little sister Lucy, come in to their mother with a plan for a fish-pond.

They wish for permission to dig a hole in a corner of the yard and fill it with water, and then to get some fish out of the brook to put into it.
The mother, on hearing the proposal, says at once, without waiting for any explanations, "Oh no, I would not do that.

It is a very foolish plan.