It's Fine!

Yeah, That’s My Kid At The Top Of The Play Structure, & She’s Fine

We’ve gotta let our kids take some risks.

Written by Julia Williamson

May 5, 2023

Cavan Images/Cavan/Getty Images

My daughters and I are at a playground in northeast Portland. Archer, who is five, loves the swings. She laughs and hoots as I push her higher and higher. Meanwhile Grey, who is two, heads straight for the 12-foot-tall climbing structure. She doesn’t pause to look for a route to the top; she just heads up, full of confidence and determination.

Soon she’s waving at me from the peak, then she circles the entire structure, ten feet off the ground. I’m so proud looking up at her, and I trust her abilities completely.

But looking around, I see some other mothers giving me some serious side eye. I suspect they must think I’m wildly negligent. I’ve had parents ask whose child that is way up at the top, did I realize she’d gone so high? Didn’t I recognize how dangerous it was?

But she was fine. She was sure-footed and fearless, because she had an excellent sense of her abilities and limits. And she developed that awareness by trying new things.