Are you your child's RISK Manager 24/7?

     Are you your child's RISK Manager 24/7?  Do you allow your child to venture out, roam, explore with a lot less supervision?  This helps create independence in your son or daughter.   Child development experts say that overprotecting your children will keep them from developing resilience and physical skills.  We should be teaching them how to make smart decisions and not fear the unknown.  Excessive monitoring creates in them an inability to take risks, face new situations, and make their own decisions for themselves.  In this modern life where the fear of strangers haunts almost every parent or legal guardian, we must still create and support a society that enable our youth to develop the skill necessary to build on a child’s confidence, self-esteem, and trust. 

     Growing up playing in the streets, running errands at the nearby store, walking to my friend’s house, my brothers jumping in the canal (yes totally disgusting, I must add), and there were the adventures that are best kept at heart, have me operating at a free spirit rate.  I don’t believe that children should run wild and get into all kinds of mischief. However, I do like that they explore, climb trees, walk to ponds, go to the nearby store, and are always ready for a pickup game of basketball or whatever social activity presents itself.   With physical idleness as part of modern life, I enjoy seeing children participate in organized sports, involved in events, or just playing outside by themselves, with another friend or with a crowd. 

     Today my boys and their friend decide to wander off to a nearby pond.  They decided to bring home 6 frogs all crowded in a tiny yellow pail just for me. I admire their success in capturing these tiny creatures and allowing me to watch in amazement how much the frogs want to get out of that pail.  All I kept thinking was, “yuck!”.  My attitude was supportive but yet I made sure the boys understood that the frogs needed to be returned to their natural habitat.  Didn’t have to say it twice, they ran enjoying life.