Teens may engage in risk taking behaviors to find out who they are but it can be challenging to express themselves in a safe way. Healthy challenges can help kids satisfy their natural desire for risk taking by allow them to try new things, explore boundaries, and learn to accept challenges. This has been shown to build confidence and help strengthen leadership skills among teens.
The Partnership to End Addiction reminds us that taking risks is a natural part of teens' identity and development. Key is for the risks to be healthy ones that will kids practice problem-solving, decision-making, and resilience - important skills they will need in life. An example of this is learning to ride a bike...besides the chance of falling and skinning your 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, 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? These help identify if 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.
Help your child find outlets to explore activities that match their interests. Summer Camps offer a perfect opportunity for kids to give new learning experiences 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 by theme and by area:
Discuss healthy risk taking ideas and share the rewards or failures so kids will know trial & error is a normal part of finding what works best for us all!
Read more about Healthy Risk Taking
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