“[Risk deficit disorder] is where children, including adolescents, are not exposed to graduated levels of healthy risk throughout their developmental years,” says David Eager, Professor of Risk Management and Injury Prevention at the University of Technology Sydney. Eager coined the term and posited in his research that this lack of risk has huge consequences for how our kids turn out as adults, namely that they will not develop critical life skills such as persistence, resilience and problem-solving. (It’s important to note that risk deficit disorder is not an actual diagnosis, but a term Eager and his colleagues created based on their research.)
“Children learn by taking risks and making mistakes. Better that they make these mistakes or observe others making them when they are young and the consequences are small than when they are adults and the consequences can be far greater,” he adds.
So what kind of risks are we talking about, exactly? Some examples of “healthy risks” include things that you probably did yourself growing up, like walking to school by yourself, playing outside unsupervised, climbing trees or using grown-up tools like hammers and saws. Remember how your parents used to leave you home alone at 8 years old, without even having a way to reach them in case of emergency? Meanwhile, your third grader learned how to work the Alexa years ago and wears a GizmoWatch so you can track their location at all times. So yeah, things look a little different these days.