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Together with other parents, learn tips to support setting up rules, limits, boundaries, and realistic expectations for you and your child.

Learn why your child might be feeling separation anxiety, and tips to support both yourself and your child through it.

Learn why your child might be feeling separation anxiety, and tips to support both yourself and your child through it.

What is Risky Play?  Risky play is a form of play where children engage in a thrilling and challenging experience. Risky play can be many things, such as climbing, jumping from heights, rough and tumble play, exploring unfamiliar environments, and playing with tools or other materials that may cause potential risks.   Risky play is an important part of a child’s development. It promotes resilience, problem-solving, and confidence. However, as caregivers and educators, we often feel compelled to protect children from potential dangers, which can limit their exploration. The key is to find a balance between allowing risky play and maintaining a safe environment. One way to do this is by encouraging children to make their own decisions and take responsibility for their actions, while offering support and guidance when needed. Here are some strategies to help children engage in risky play within boundaries.  Instead of Saying "Be Careful" or "Stop," Try:  "I’m here if you need me."  Offering your presence without controlling the situation can encourage children to take risks while knowing they have your support. It reminds them that they’re not alone, but also encourages independence.  "What’s your plan?"  Encouraging children to think ahead about their actions helps them assess risks and outcomes themselves. It teaches them to problem-solve and make decisions based on the situation.  "How are you going to get down?"  Asking this allows children to reflect on their actions before making a move. It encourages them to think about safety in the context of climbing or other risky activities, without stopping the play completely.  Encouragement After Falling or Failing:  Falling and failing are a natural part of growth. Rather than discouraging children or jumping in too quickly to fix things, we can encourage persistence and problem-solving.  "What can you do differently next time?"  This question helps children focus on solutions and how they can improve. It promotes a growth mindset and the understanding that mistakes are part of learning.  "Practice makes progress."  Reminding children that skills improve with practice helps them stay motivated even when they don’t succeed on the first try. It reinforces the idea that persistence is more important than perfection.  "Remember last time, you figured it out!"  Referencing previous successful attempts gives children confidence. It shows them they have the skills to overcome challenges, even when things don’t go according to plan.    Natural Consequences: Empowering Choice s   When we allow children to experience natural consequences, they learn about cause and effect. Giving them choices, while maintaining boundaries, helps them make decisions and accept the outcomes of their actions.  Offer Choices:  Rather than just saying "no," offer alternatives. For example, if a child is climbing too high, you might say, "You can climb that high, but if you fall, you might get hurt. What else can you try instead?" This gives children the chance to make their own decisions and understand the risks involved.  "Accidents happen."  When accidents do occur, acknowledge the mistake without creating shame. A calm "Accidents happen. Let’s see what we can do next time" helps children understand that failure is just a part of learning.  "What do you think happened?"  After a fall or mistake, ask the child to reflect on what went wrong. This helps them analyze the situation and think critically about how they can make better choices in the future.  Balancing Safety and Risk   Risky play doesn’t mean abandoning safety altogether. It’s about offering the freedom to explore while maintaining reasonable limits. By using these strategies, adults can guide children to assess risks and set their own boundaries. This ultimately promotes physical and cognitive development, as well as confidence and resilience.  Read more about Risky Play here . Want to learn more parenting skills? Check out our FREE Parent Education Groups here . At Norwood Centre our team of qualified Early Childhood Development Subject Matter Experts work to provide tools that caregivers can use to support early childhood development. We hear you! If you have a question or concern, please ask us. We have a variety of Child Development Activities available on our website, find them at norwoodcentre.com/child-development-activities . For short-term one-on-one coaching, please call us at 780-471-3737.

Consequences are what happens after your child behaves in a certain way. Consequences can influence how your child behaves in the future.  Some consequences can make behaviour more likely in the future. These include  positive attention ,  praise, encouragement and rewards  and other things your child likes.  Other consequences make behaviour less likely in the future. These consequences are things your child doesn’t like. They might include the consequences you give your child for challenging behavior, like quiet time or loss of privilege.  Plenty of positive consequences for positive behavior might mean fewer consequences for challenging behavior.  How to use natural and logical consequences? Follow the 3 Rs:   Related  to the behaviour Related: If your child throws a toy, you take away the toy  Not related: you send her to bed early  Respectful  towards the child and not involving shame or blame  Respectful: If your child spills a drink, you say, “Oops, looks like you spilled it, what should we do now?”  Reasonable  in both the child’s and parent’s perspective  Reasonable: If your child gets in trouble at school for not completing a homework assignment, you discuss it with him and agree to cut TV or play time by 30 minutes to ensure the homework is completed. Non-reasonable: you ground him for a month.  Tips Use consequences as a response to behaviour: This means using consequences for your child’s behaviour and not using consequences as a response to your child themselves. For example, let your child know the consequence is for hitting or breaking a family rule, not for being a disobedient child. This way your child will feel loved and safe – even when you’re using consequences.  Explain consequences ahead of time : If your child knows what to expect and why, they’re more likely to accept consequences and less likely to feel angry about them. For example, "When you don't put on your mittens your hands will get cold." Use consequences fairly, according to children’s needs and abilities: You might use different consequences according to your children’s ages. But if you’ve decided to give your children consequences for challenging behaviour, it’s important to use them the same way for everyone. Even young children will be upset if they see other children being treated differently from them.    Keep consequences short, and consistent: Use short and clear instructions, and be consistent with them. If you provided consequences once, and did not provide it the next time, because child is doing the same thing again, just keep repeating and be consistent. It takes time for children to learn.   Examples Give them choices.  If a child is not cleaning up after playing give them choices, “You can choose would you like to pick up 5 toys, or 4?", or “Would you like to pick up blocks so that I can pick up the cars?” Next time remind, before the play time, “Remember last time we cleaned up, we will clean up this time as well”. If it does not happen, then give a consequence. "I see you are not putting away your toys away like we talked about. The toys you don't put away don't get to come out next time.”   Start with giving choices, providing solutions and then the last step is a consequence.   A child is trying to climb up the slide when another child is sliding down, you could say “I see you are trying to walk up the slide, but there is another child trying to slide down. You can use the stairs or wait for the other child to come down.”  Here we provided an alternative/choices. Read more about guiding positive behaviour in your children here . Want to learn more? Register for a FREE Parent Education Group. Find more information here . At Norwood Centre our team of qualified Early Childhood Development Subject Matter Experts work to provide tools that caregivers can use to support early childhood development. We hear you! If you have a question or concern, please ask us. We have a variety of Child Development Activities available on our website, find them at norwoodcentre.com/child-development-activities . For short-term one-on-one coaching, please call us at 780-471-3737.

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