Of course parents want to keep tweens and teens safe. Here’s why you should also encourage them to take risks

Parents must strive to keep their children safe, yet allowing them to take calculated risks is equally important. As children reach late primary and early high school years, encouraging healthy risk-taking becomes more challenging. Our new report delves into play and its role in fostering risk-taking among 9-15 year olds. Why do kids need risks?

Adolescents naturally seek out risk-taking to develop and define themselves. Research shows that healthy risks contribute to executive function, emotional regulation, confidence, resilience, and social competence. This is achieved through challenging activities that stretch comfort zones and foster tenacity and inner strength. What is risky play?

Risky play is not unsafe play, but adventurous, challenging, and uncertainty-based activities that offer developmental benefits. Examples include unstructured play in nature or climbing at the park, as well as indoor rock climbing and rough-and-tumble play. It's crucial to distinguish between risk and hazard. A risk is something a child can handle, while a hazard could cause serious harm.

For instance, kids might scrape their knee climbing rocks or break a wrist playing netball, but they shouldn't play on busy roads or swim unsupervised. Risk also encompasses emotional, cognitive, and executive function, social, and digital risk-taking. Encouraging healthy risks involves understanding their value and modeling decision-making.

Parents should resist interfering too quickly when their child faces difficulties, allowing them to work through risks independently. Every child's appetite for risk varies based on age, experience, confidence, abilities, and culture. Parents can support healthy risk-taking by openly discussing risks, failures, and successes, modeling their own decision-making, and providing a safe environment for exploration.