In the recent D6 Conference, one item that set me into thinking for quite some time after listening to a story told by the key speaker, Scott Turansky:
One day I took my young grandchildren to the playground. There was a mother who also took her child there to play. While watching my grandchildren played, I kept hearing the mother saying frequently to her kid, "Be careful, don't do that!". After hearing this numerous times, I could not take it anymore and shouted to my grandchildren, "Take risks, take risks!".
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Parents understand that teaching children to be strong and courageous aligns with the concept of allowing then to take risks and face challenges head-on. Children are to be taught to embrace taking risks when facing challenges.
While this ideal is well understood, yet, the struggles of parents in handling this is never a straight forward case. The nagging question is: How far or to what extent that children should be given the freedom to take risks.
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My wife told me of a conversation she had some time ago with my youngest son, Paul soon after he observed us doing regular cycling after we started cycling in late 2017.
When I was at high school, I took the bike you bought for us and cycled all the way to Tanjong Aru with another friend. Had I asked for permission, I knew that the answer would be a "No". So I decided to do it without your knowledge!
Come to think of it, would I have given permission to a young teenager son to ride a distance of 8.5Km from Taman Kim Leng to Tanjong Aru passing through highway with heavy traffic and then back? It would probably have been a "No"! To be honest!
We are sure Paul is not the only one among the children to have done numerous things behind our back:) They knew that their parents would most likely decline their requests because the parents were not ready to take the risk!
Come my grandchildren generation, I noticed they were given much more leeway and freedom to take risks and try new challenges. Afterall, No Pain No Gain!
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From my encounter with my grandchildren, Gracie is observed to be more adventurous and is a risk taker.
Even at age 2, she dared to do certain stunts some may not consider venturing into (Read here).**************************************************
During our holidays in WA in September/October 2023, we had great time doing things with our grandchildren together, observing them crossing from one level of risk to another level!
I don't remember hearing "Be Careful" from the parents when their children ventured up the tree! But then, this is what I call "supervised risk" that they ventured into :) (
Read here for more).
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