I’m back after a lovely, non-computer time this summer. We spent a lot of our time playing and traveling, including camping and playing with fire.

OK, I don’t have tots anymore. My youngest is seven, and that’s a wonderful age to play with fire. Yes, striking the match, building the fire, poking it and learning its power. Some days in our campsite or backyard he spent hours playing with fire.

Letting children work with fire has some risk, but it also helps keep them safe. After I trained my kids on basic safety and gauged their development, I was ready to take that risk.

Kids don’t like to get hurt. They don’t like pain, blood or owies and most kids avoid getting hurt at all costs. That’s why giving them some training – and then giving them some risks – works so well.

Risk helps kids get involved in their own safety. It helps them understand real dangers and gauge their own physical limits. When kids have experience with handling risk, they actually grow safer  – becoming less likely to take dangerous risks and more likely to understand their limits when dealing with reasonable risk.

Researchers have found that letting kids experience risk first-hand is the only way children learn how to judge danger. Whether it’s crossing a street or adding a stick to the fire, we need to introduce risks to our children’s lives.

What zany, somewhat risky things did you do this summer? Are you comfortable or nervous about risk? Do you think kids are getting enough risk?

New chapter about Risk coming in my new book It’s OK to Go Up the Slide. Publication date: March 8, 2016.