Risky play does not mean we set your child loose on the world without expectation. It doesn’t mean giving them a stick and telling them to whack a kid with it. It does look like a lot of things: balancing on a beam, jumping from rock to rock, climbing a tree. We often associate risk with danger, but your child does not need to be an any actual danger to participate in risky play. They need to be able to push their physical limits. They may fall down, they may bleed a little bit or hurt for a short time. Inevitably they will learn something the hard way. To be honest, this will happen anyway-it’s life. But you can add intention and purpose to it by teaching your child how to assess the risk factor in their play!