Children need to take some risks when they play, it is not good for them to be cautious all the time. Taking risks is an important and normal part of life. As parents, we sometimes try to keep them in a bubble, but this is not healthy for them and it affects their growth. If you kept shielded from everything, they may not have the confidence or bravery to face life’s inevitable challenges.
Parkour Activities
Parkour is a relatively new form of movement that has developed from military drills and obstacle courses. It is a free movement system that uses manmade or natural objects. So, you can try parkour in an indoor obstacle course or you can do it outdoors in the city or a local park. You can even purchase a gym franchise for sale in Melbourne that has parkour facilities. The great thing about this sport is that anyone can try it and it is excellent for kids who like taking risks, it also helps others who are a little more risk-averse.
Parkour activities are based around obstacle courses where kids have to make their way along the trail using jumps, hangs, rolls, vaults, and more. To get past certain obstacles, they must take risks.
Obstacle Courses
Putting kids through an indoor obstacle course is a great way for them to learn about the limits of their body and challenge themselves. There are plenty of ways to find obstacle courses, you can use a playground or visit an indoor ninja course.
Several challenging ninja courses around the country offer unstructured play for kids. If you want them to take risks, but you would prefer it to be in a safe environment, you could take them to a padded indoor obstacle course.
We all know things like running and cycling are good for our health, but kids need to combine them with challenging environments. Instead of just running or cycling, try out an obstacle course or mountain biking.
Playing at a Height
The reasons why things such as parkour and obstacle courses are great for your kids is that they get the opportunity to jump and land from a height. Jumping off an obstacle at height is a way of losing control, when you lose control you take a risk.
Kids love climbing and jumping off high places because it presents a risk. It is both exciting and scary at the same time. This is why they like to climb trees when outdoors or obstacles when indoors.
Playing at Speed
As mentioned, it is important to keep children active but not shield them from ‘risky’ activities and sports. Kids love to play at speed as it again relates to losing control. One of the best activities for this is mountain biking. When riding a bike down a mountain at high speed, you get a rush of excitement, exhilaration, and fear at all once. There is a possibility that you might crash or fall off the bike. Taking these types of risks teaches children to learn about their environment. Sometimes we fall off and fail, while other times we make it down the trail. It is a lesson that teaches us important life skills.
Martial Arts
Martial arts allow kids to play and take risks without knowing the exact outcome. If kids do not go far enough with their play it gets boring, if they do too much it gets scary. Taking risks while they play is like a science experiment. They get to test out their environment to see how far they can push themselves.
Sports like kickboxing and wrestling are excellent for promoting rough and tumble play. This type of play encourages them to manage the balance between playful contact and real fighting. If you want kids to take risks in a safe environment, you can bring them to a range of martial arts classes, such as:
- Judo
- Wrestling
- Taekwondo
- Kickboxing
Freedom
Parents also need to give their kids the freedom and time to experiment and play by themselves. Programmes such as indoor parkour or ninja obstacle course are great for kids of all ages, especially younger children. Parents can sit and wait for kids to be put through a course by a qualified instructor.
Kids know that somebody has their back, but they are also in a position to experiment with their environment and take risks. The most important thing a parent or guardian can do is provide the environment to play and then get out of the way.
The likelihood of kids getting injured from unstructured play either indoors or outdoors is minimal. They have more of a chance of getting hurt playing sports than they do in a playground or indoor obstacle course. Risky play is a fundamental way for kids to figure out the world and how their body works.
