Yes! There are benefits of healthy risk taking that include trying new things, accepting challenges, and venturing into the unknown. Teens may engage in risk taking behaviors to find out who they are but it can be challenging for them to express themselves in a safe way. By guiding children toward healthy challenges, parents can help kids satisfy their natural desire for risk taking, avoid negative outcomes, and bolster confidence and leadership skills.💪
The Partnership to End Addiction reminds us that taking risks is a natural part of teens’ identity and development.
It provides opportunities to learn new things and explore boundaries. Key is
for risks to be healthy ones that will help kids gain confidence and practice problem-solving,
decision-making, and resilience – important skills they’ll need in life.
Take
the example of learning to ride a bike 🚴…besides the chance of falling and
getting a skinned knee, it’s a healthy risk worth the reward of enjoyment,
exercise, and freedom that comes along with bike riding. Other healthy risk-taking
examples may be riding a roller coaster, indoor rock climbing, trying out for a
team or school play, even making new friends.🙌
Brainstorming with kids can help direct their interests toward exciting and healthy activities. Ask questions like: what makes you the happiest? – what’s the most exciting thing you can
imagine doing? – if you had a day to do whatever you want, what would you do?
Identify whether your child’s interests are physical
– like sports, creative – like
drawing or learning to play a musical instrument, or emotional – like volunteering at an animal shelter or
community service organization.
Is your child into sports, academics, animals, aviation, fishing, cooking, dance, horseback riding, martial arts, space, arts, nature, music, STEM, video games, watersports, swimming? Help them find outlets to explore activities that match their interests. 🎨🚀🏊
Summer Camps offer a perfect opportunity for kids to give these activities a try. Over 100 summer camp options are offered in our area and are listed in Lakeland Mom’s Summer Camp Guide for Lakeland + Polk County: https://lakelandmom.com/summer-camp-directory/
Encourage your kids to give new learning experiences a try, even if they may be hesitant. Let them know that there's everything to gain and nothing to lose - either way, it can be a valuable learning experience and there's always other activities to explore if the first one doesn't work out. Talk about your own healthy risk taking and share the rewards or failures so kids will know trial & error is a normal part of finding what works best for us all!
Learn More About Healthy Risk Taking
https://drugfree.org/article/healthy-risk-taking/
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