{
  "id": 1524400,
  "title": "Parents should encourage tweens and teens to take risks—here's why",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/17/parents-should-encourage-tweens-and-teens-to-take-risks-heres-why",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-17T17:20:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-08-parents-tweens-teens.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Many parents worry about being overly protective, or \"helicopter parents,\" by hovering over their children. However, giving kids too much protection can hinder their development of independence and resilience. As children aged 9-15 enter their late elementary and early high school years, they naturally want to push boundaries and develop independence. Encouraging healthy risks during this stage is crucial for their growth.\n\nYoung people inherently seek out risk-taking as a way to define themselves and develop. Adolescence brings significant neurobiological changes, with heightened sensitivity to rewards, increased sensation-seeking, and immature impulse control. Engaging in adventurous and positive risk-taking can enhance executive function, emotional regulation, confidence, resilience, and social competence. This is achieved by exposing young individuals to challenging activities that test their comfort zones and foster tenacity and inner strength.\n\nHealthy risk-taking does not equate to unsafe play. Instead, it involves adventurous, challenging, and uncertainty-based activities that offer developmental benefits. These can range from unstructured play in nature to structured activities like climbing park equipment or skateboarding. Indoor activities, such as wrestling with siblings or rock climbing at a gym, also provide valuable experiences.\n\nIt's essential to differentiate between risks and hazards. A risk is something a child can manage and learn from, while a hazard can cause serious harm. For instance, climbing rocks may result in minor scrapes, while playing sports could lead to broken bones. However, children should avoid hazardous activities like playing on busy roads or swimming unsupervised.\n\nRisk-taking extends beyond physical challenges to encompass emotional, cognitive, executive function, social, and digital risks. Adolescents face emotional risks, such as the fear of rejection from new peers, and cognitive risks, like failing challenging tasks. Parents must grasp the developmental value of risky play, which can build confidence, resilience, and problem-solving skills. The objective is not to shield children entirely from risk but to help them manage it effectively.\n\nParents should consider the context and potential benefits of allowing children to test their limits, balancing these against genuine hazards. For example, trusting a child's judgment to climb a tree while resisting the urge to intervene when they encounter minor difficulties can strengthen their ability to manage uncertainty independently. Small injuries and setbacks are a natural part of childhood and adolescence, and giving children the freedom to take calculated risks while being present to offer assistance when needed is crucial.",
  "summary": "Parents may have heard of the dangers of being a \"helicopter parent.\" They hover so closely over their kids that they never get a chance to develop independence and resilience.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Conversation AU",
        "title": "Of course parents want to keep tweens and teens safe. Here’s why you should also encourage them to take risks",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/16/of-course-parents-want-to-keep-tweens-and-teens-safe-heres-why-you",
        "published": "2026-08-16T20:06:40.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}