10/06/2026
I went to an excellent talk about children becoming “ risk averse” at Cheltenham Science Festival last week.
Excellent speakers discussed the shifts in how children experience risk now.
Children are very protected from what is seen as a scary world and this is resulting in them fearing taking a risk. This is a shift in the behavioural patterns seen years ago.
Children are now presenting as much more anxious about things that previously wouldn’t have been seen as fearful. For instance going on a school trip, starting a new club/class, sleepovers, sleeping alone or making their way to high school on public transport.
This can lead to even smaller things being tricky too-tackling a hard maths question, speaking in assembly, dealing with a change of routine such as “ World Book Day” , change of teacher for the day.
This leads to adulthood where a certain amount of taking a risk is inevitable-going to University, applying for a new job, learning to drive, travelling the world.
So how can we allow children to develop their risk tolerance so they fear the world less? Much of it depends on our attitude to risk as parents-what language do we use that they hear- “ be careful”, “ that might not be safe” etc. How do our children see us assessing risk, or taking a risk?
Encouraging them to safely take a risk, to consider options, problem solve, know their capacity and trust in their abilities will really help. Enable activities that gently allow some element of risk -so they can see they CAN ….it will really pay off!! 💜
