by Alix Tonsgard
Taking risks and failing are a natural part of childhood and perhaps, at times the most terrifying part of childhood from a caregiver perspective. No one wants to see their child fail. However, I want us to take some time to think about risk taking, its relationship to creativity and learning, and its significance in a child’s overall growth and development.
Young children naturally take risks. In fact, it is how they learn. Children must challenge their bodies and minds in order to grow. Without risk, there is no challenge, and consequently, there is no growth.
For example, a child building has a plan in mind. They attempt to create a structure to achieve a specific goal. If the child fails to achieve that goal, they are required to step back and think about all of the things that might have gone wrong, and come up with ways to revise their plan. They then test the new plan and if they fail again, repeat the process. There is a ton of higher level thinking that happens in this process that will transfer into skills that will support them in all areas of life; the ability to cope with frustration; to persist and not give up; to create and test a hypothesis; the list goes on.
The keys to success later in life are the capacities to solve problems and think critically. How does one develop such skills without taking risks and failing? The more opportunities we can provide our children with to play, experiment, and fail, the better.
While allowing children to take both intellectual and physical risks is important, understanding your child’s limits is important too. So how do you determine what risks to allow and encourage your child to take? Here are four things to consider before you decide:
- Trust Your Instincts
- Assess the Situation Together
- Consider What Could Go Right
- Model Making Mistakes and Learning from Them
To learn more about risk taking and failure, read my full blog at dupagechildrens.org/blog.
Alix Tonsgard is an early learning specialist at the DuPage Children’s Museum.