If you’re a parent, you’ll know that keeping track of your young children can be harder than trying to find your PC mouse pointer when some funny-but-really-not work colleague has ramped up the sensitivity to four billion during the 90 seconds it took you to pop to the loo.

One minute they’re where you left them and the next they’ve escaped the mesmerising allure of Peppa Pig, only to end up upside down in the crockery cupboard with toothpaste in their ears and a two-week-old carrot stick stuck up their nose. 

It sounds impossible—and to non-parents it is—but it’s an absolutely undeniable fact of life that children, like deities and Steve Gerrard do the impossible. Of course, accidents happen. We lose our kids in the supermarket; we lose them at the park; and we lose them in the clothes displays in various fashion stores—but none of these are intentional.

As much re-purposed rusk, saliva-coated crayola, or vomit-laced spaghetti sauce you've cleaned from various orifices and surfaces over the past years, you’d never put your children in harm’s way. You’d never deliberately leave your children alone in a harsh environment.

Would you? Would you?

Finland? *Finland blushes!*

Norway, you too? *Norway shrugs*

Sweden? *Sweden hangs its head*

It turns out that, actually, yes—some countries leave their children out in the freezing cold for a lunchtime nap, but not without suitable protection, of course.
It’s a practice that’s been around for decades—and one that’s rumoured to have a whole host of health benefits!

But it still rings alarm bells. We’ve come to a point where we’re all so sensitive to the dangers of the past that we over-compensate for illness; we crank up the heating or air conditioning; we over-equip ourselves to deal with nature and the elements. There’s a fear of doing things the old way because we’ve made so much progress in other areas.

The world of business is no different; there’s a danger of forgetting the past and what we did in it to be successful. You might have a flashy Facebook presence or a LinkedIn page, but surely there’s still a place for things like actually talking to prospecst and direct mail in today’s marketing world—especially for direct response material? You might capture data through your website lead magnets, but there’s another load of people who will resonate much better with a creative, well-informed phone call or sales letter.

We’re certain that those Nordic babies are completely safe outside, I was. In fact, we can see the benefits of enduring those harsh temperatures in exchange for long-term rewards in other areas of life, too—whether in search of a healthy heart, a sound respiratory system, or something less important like growth, sales, and the like.