Brian Nystrom writes:

As they say, "the best laid plans..."

Frankly, this seems to me like a rather "head in the sand" attitude. What you
"plan" to do and what actually ends up happening can be two entirely different
thngs. A classic example is summer thunderstorms. They can pop up in minutes on an
otherwise benign day and strike with tremendous violence. Offshore storms can
cause huge waves on a calm day. Wind conditions can change dramatically in a short
period of time. Boat wakes are yet another example of an uncontrollable factor.
Even using your best judgement, you will eventually find yourself in conditions
that you didn't plan for, since you cannot control your paddling environment.

Why would you intentionally not teach your kids to roll? Aside from the fact that
it would make them - and you - safer, they would probably get a kick out of it.
I'll bet they'd make a game out of learning and executing rolls. On top of that,
rolling is useful for cooling off on hot days.

Being more skilled than necessary for the conditions in not a liability, but being
less skilled than necessary certainly is.

Apologies for the long quote, but Brian said it well. I've
encountered this "no need to roll so I shouldn't teach it" attitude
before, and I find it a bit puzzling. There is the IMO rather
convoluted argument that having a skill such as rolling can make you
overconfident and prone to go into risky situations...but this
doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I don't think you can quantify
the effects of attitude like this, so it is just speculation. While
we're speculating, though, it seems more likely to me that if you're
the sort of person who ignores limits and consequences, or is
oblivious to them, it doesn't really matter what skills you have or
don't have, you'll tend to go beyond whatever's safe for you.

It all comes down to the question of judgment. If your judgment is
sound, you ought to be safe, whatever your skill level is -- if only
because your judgment will keep you sitting on shore on days when a
more skilled person could safely go on the water. But no one's
judgment is 100% perfect, all the time. As Brian pointed out,
conditions can change suddenly. His example of the summer
thunderstorm is an excellent one. What's the answer: to refrain
from ever boating on hot summer days? To never venture more than a
hundred feet from shore, so that you won't "have to roll"?
Reentries don't always work either. They're a tool, just like a
roll, and the more tools you have, the better the chance that at
least one of 'em will work.

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Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield,
Other days you're the bug.