Reframing healthy risk taking: Parents' dilemmas and strategies to promote children's well-being

This paper reports findings of a qualitative study regarding dilemmas adults experience in balancing protecting children and offering age-appropriate risk taking opportunities. It outlines strategies adults used to manage their own uncertainties as they supported children to become autonomous. Twenty seven parents of typically developing children and 10 parents of children living with social or physical disabilities engaged in a card sort; they identified and prioritized attributes for their children as a prelude to semi-structured, in-depth interviews about how risk helps children reach these goals. Eight teachers of the typically-developing children also participated in interviews about risk in everyday life and their observations of parents' views about children's risk taking. We took a hermeneutic interpretive approach to analyzing interview transcripts to gain an understanding of these adults' dilemmas and strategies they used to offer children age-appropriate occupations with gradually increasing challenge and responsibility. This study provides unique insights into ways adults manage uncertainties and employ strategies to offer children practice in managing risks in everyday life. These practices supported children in developing qualities and characteristics that contributed both to children's own well-being and to collective well-being of families, schools and communities.