Frustrated circus ambitions

Today I was outside talking to a friend while the girls played about 20 feet away. I noticed, without thinking anything of it, that they tied two jump ropes together and tied one end to the playset and the other end to a branch of the tree. I was vaguely overhearing talk about wanting to be in a circus, again without thinking anything of it. I glanced over at them and saw M standing in the tree with one foot out above the rope. As I looked away, warning bells suddenly went off as I put everything together and yelled, "M! Don't you dare step out of that tree. That is NOT a tight rope! That is NOT safe!!!" "But MOOOOOMMMMM," they both whined. "We want to practice being in the circus!" "Yeah! Not okay. That is ... just so far from being safe. You can't do that!" As M continued protesting, J thought for a second and then brightened as she said, "But what if we hold an umbrella while we do it? Then we can, right?" Oh sure. No problem then. Don't know why I didn't think of the umbrella in the first place. Clearly that would make it all okay. "No."