“Children rise to risk,” says Joan Almon, executive director of the U.S. Alliance for Childhood. “Give them some genuine risk and they quickly learn what their limits are, and then they expand their limits.” The problem is: If kids never encounter even tiny risks, they never develop that thing we call common sense.I found this interesting quote on Free Range Kids. It’s good for me to hear things like this because I have a super strong tendency to fear every step, concrete surface and sharp object around my babies. Phil often says “they’ll learn” and “let them do it once and they’ll know better next time”. There’s much truth to that but I still cringe and want to pad the world.
I’m trying now that Lily is becoming such a big girl to let her do a lot more on her own as far as climbing and getting off things goes. I know she has to learn how to do these things on her own. A couple months ago she landed on her face coming off the slide at the park and hey, she was ok. It startled her and she had dirt in her mouth and I wanted to cry, but she was ok. I’m working on Mama being ok now.
