Why Is It Important To Teach Children About Risks?

Life is essentially a risk. Everything we do, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, creates a ripple effect that molds our personality and future. We may fail to grasp how impactful our small mundane choices are. Protecting your child from harm is one's top priority as a parent. It's instinctual. Most parents put their child's safety above theirs. There isn't much a loving parent wouldn't do to ensure their kid's pain-free, happy, and healthy life. Maybe it is humanity's innate desire to protect the vulnerable – to preserve their innocent and prevent their suffering.

Oh, what would the world be like if we could protect every child from struggle, misfortune, and mistreatment? Unfortunately, that's not the case. It's merely impossible.

But that isn't necessarily so bad. Risk-taking is important for a child's development.

Importance of Risk for Development

Various experts believe learning to take measured risks is beneficial for every kid's emotional and physical development. A study from Columbia University examined risk-taking and its outcomes using exploration-based pivotal learning tasks. They concluded that individuals with higher associative sensitivity modified their behaviors in order to improve results. This can be simply put as taking risks appears to help young people make better, more informed decisions. These decisions ultimately result in better outcomes.

Thou risk-taking is important for a child's development and also impacts their adult life, they often shy away from it due to various reasons:

·      Fear of judgment

·      Being self-conscious and under confident

·      They don’t want to step out of their comfort zone

·      They easily get overwhelmed and scared of failing

·      They’ve observed their elders playing safe rather than taking new risks

Children need a safe environment that is also challenging. An environment without risks will hinder a child from necessary and beneficial stimuli and challenges. They require opportunities to explore their environment and make decisions. They need opportunities to solve problems and assess what happens if they’re irresponsible.

Removing risks from an environment, be it indoors or outdoors, can lead children to get bored and show signs of reckless behavior. As a result, children display more risk-taking behaviors, which can be dangerous to them and their peers.

Advantages of Risk Taking

·      Taking risks helps children develop confidence and cope with challenging situations, which benefits their well-being.

·      Taking risks while playing helps a child become organized and expand their skills that help cope with emotional regulation.

·      It also contributes to a child’s self-image and perception development.

·      They also learn empathy and how to be considerate of others

·      They learn that their actions have consequences and can affect other people too.

Children should have the right to make decisions and take risks through their play; these risks maximize their enjoyment and enable them to identify and remove obvious risks.

SAFETY DOG and the Adventures of Emma & Ethan by Christian Fournier, is a great book to introduce your kids to the concept of risks and help them understand how to identify and steer clear of potential risks while playing or doing other such activities in the absence of a guardian. Get your copy today.