@Eric, I think you have a personality and mindset where that approach is really helpful for you.
But every kid is a little bit different. My parents never bought me video games or the latest fad toys. I never ever faulted them for that and mainly wished they had been stricter and harder on me. That’s my personality. But I have an acquaintance who still resents that his parents could have bought him a video game he wanted and chose not to out of principle – 20 years later.
The point is that making accommodations might make some people slack off, take the easy route, make excuses, etc. But for some they can be the door to more success.
Imagine someone who gets the free park pass just because it’s free. Then they decide, “hey, maybe we’ll go to a nat’l park instead of a resort this spring break given that I already have this pass. Might as well use it.” Then they start hiking with their kids and realize they love it. Then they’re backpacking and next thing you know they’re all summiting Half Dome together. Some people will never start something if the barriers are even minimal, but once they get going they keep on going. I once ran a half marathon because of a Groupon! Before that I had no interest in running, but I was hooked by a good deal.
To me something like a parks pass is that little nudge to get out and do something cool, as opposed to some scarlet letter of disability. I think the fact that it’s lifetime also makes it really useful. We bought an annual pass years ago when we toured 6 or 7 parks in a summer. That pass spurred us to see 4 or 5 more that same year. But once it lapsed, the calculus was different and we really didn’t get out to parks nearly as much. So I think the nudging effect on behavior is real.
I guess what I’m saying is that I agree you can’t let your children use diabetes as an excuse for failure. But on the other hand, I’m not sure all people flourish when you deny that, objectively, yes, they do have certain struggles that most others don’t, and you make no effort to make some things easier for them when it is very simple to do so. I sometimes think taking away those little barriers helps people get out the door and do amazing feats.
I guess I just don’t think these things are likely to be a slippery slope at all, especially for someone with Samson’s personality. I can see it being so perhaps for others, especially when taken together with other attitudes. But just one parks pass? This is really adding some symbolic significance to what is essentially a discount.