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An Introduction of Sorts

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I have to give Gever Tulley and his book 50 Dangerous Things (you should let your children do) most of the credit for inspiring Mike and I to start this blog. I first heard about Gever and his book through a link to his TEDTalk. Mike and I loved his idea that so many activities that are taboo now - letting a kid fiddle around with a pocket knife, using real tools, climbing trees, walking places by themselves, are lost opportunities for kids to experiment, grow and gain confidence.

Mike was ready to buy the book and tackle everything in it with the kids. My thought process, as someone who lives and breathes the internet, was “This would make great blog material!” And I think it will. As we document our experiences with each of the projects, we hope you’ll be inspired to try some out on your own. It’s not just for the kids - you’ll see us try a few, too!

There were already a few blogs out there taking on the projects in the book. Knowing that, and also knowing that confining ourselves to only blogging about the 50 Things would limit us (What do we do after we finish? Close up shop?), we decided to make The Risky Kids about more than just the 50 Things. It will be a banged-up, messy, awesome little corner of the web where we can share a laid-back, paranoia-free, inspiring way to parent without fear of the evil eye from more, ahem, uptight methods of raising kids.

Bear with us as we figure out the kinks - how things are organized, how often we post, what our risky style will be. For now, we’ll try to make things easy and categorize posts as best as we can. You’ll be able to find links to all the 50 Dangerous Things posts from the main menu above. We’ll also keep a running tab of resources and links that we think other Risky Parents will find helpful, amusing, or maybe downright appalling, up there as well.

More than anything, we want this to develop into a community. If you have anything you’d like to see, share, or write for us, please let us know! We always want to hear from you at [email protected] or via Twitter (@TheRiskyKids).

Let The Fun Begin

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The Risky Family: Eli (4), Elena (9), Angie & Mike

We don’t look so dangerous, do we? Nah, to most everyone we look like your average family. But somewhere between our daughter’s first tentative steps and now, we realized that our philosophy on kids and play was not quite the same as most parents.

When other parents were hovering we were stepping back. We heard “Get down!” and encouraged our kids to climb higher. Even though we live in suburbia, we wanted our kids to experience some of the wilder, less-restricted days of our youth. Eventually we realized that most of the things we let our kids do - exploring creeks, climbing trees, skateboarding, riding bikes alone, even monkey bars - were considered “too dangerous” for kids’ safety. We didn’t want that to be the prevailing attitude for this next generation of kids, and so we created The Risky Kids.

The Risky Kids is our place to share a different way to play and parent: one that worries less, encourages freedom and fun, and yes, might include a few bumps and bruises. While we won’t be throwing any machetes or bungee-jumping, we will push the boundaries of what society today considers “safe” play. Through reflecting on issues on play today, sharing our favorite books, toys and activities, and making our way through Gever Tulley’s book 50 Dangerous Things (You Should Let Your Kids Do), we hope to make risky play everyone’s business.