Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-05-15
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Marie Helweg-Larsen, Professor of Psychology, Dickinson College Children are playing in Superkilen park in Copenhagen. In Denmark, parents generally give their children a great deal of freedom to explore, use tools, and test their limits.
Lorie Shaull/Wikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA Far from the constant surveillance that dominates in many countries, Danish parents allow their children more freedom to experiment, make mistakes, and take measured risks. An educational philosophy that could promote self-confidence and autonomy.
A lot has been written about thehigh and consistent scores of Denmarkin theglobal happiness rankings, so it is perhaps not surprising that Denmark is also considered the best country forraise children, according to U.S.
News and World Report. The small Scandinavian country is also among the highest ranked in terms ofwell-being of children, an indicator that takes into account physical health, mental health, education, and social relationships. Public policies like agenerous parental leave, ofsolid public investments in educationand oneuniversal health systemof course played a role in these results.
The Danes also show ahigh level of social trust74% of them believe that most people can be trusted, compared to only 37% of Americans. But another factor could contribute to the well-being of Danish children: they are often encouraged to take part in risky and loosely supervised games.
This may seem contradictory to parents’ desire to do everything to ensure their children’s safety. Yet, as a Dane by origin andpsychologist, I studied how the more detached parenting style practiced in Denmark could be one of the keys to raising more resilient and autonomous children.
The benefits of free play Danes use two distinct words to translate the word “to play.” The term “leg” refers to free and unstructured play; “spille” refers to games or activities governed by pre-established rules, such as playing football, chess, or the violin.
Each form of play has its benefits. But studies have shown that free and spontaneous play requiresmore compromises and creativity, because children have the freedom to modify or invent the rules. Children learn to wait their turn and solve problems – skills that are more difficult to develop when adults intervene or when the rules are set in advance.
There is also what is called risk play, a form of unstructured play based on exciting activities that can cause physical injuries. In a playground, this might mean climbing on tall structures, sliding headfirst down a slide, or fighting.
Outside playgrounds, it can involve making a fire, swimming, cycling, or using tools like saws, hammers, or knives. The Norwegian early childhood education researcherEllen Beate Hansen Sandseterwas a pioneer in the study of the game of risk.
She was interested inits evolving functions, notably in the way it helps children become competent and autonomous adults. Other researchers have shown that risky playpromotes mental healthby teaching children to become more resilient and better manage their emotions.
Positive risks and negative risks When it comes to gambling, it is useful to distinguish thepositive risks negative risks. On a playground, a positive risk corresponds to a challenge that a child is able to identify and chooses to take on.
They can assess whether they want to try a zip line, or decide for themselves the moment when they reach their limit while climbing for the first time on a climbing net. The objective is for the child to explore their own limits and learn to manage emotions like fear or anxiety.
Of course, there is a risk of scrapes or bumps. But success can boost self-confidence. Conversely, a negative risk corresponds to a danger for which the child has neither the experience nor the necessary knowledge to anticipate.
Using play equipment with rotten wood, handling a tool like a drill without appropriate instruction, or swimming in rapids can lead to serious accidents without providing any benefit in terms of learning. Many playgrounds in Denmark are designed to encourage positive risks.
The country is particularly known for its “junk playgrounds,” or adventure playgrounds,the first of whichwas created during the Second World War. These play spaces are set up with used tires, boards, and ropes rather than fixed equipment.
Children often have access to tools to build structures and transform the space themselves according to their wishes. The goal is obviously not to put children in danger. It is rather to allow them to explore on their own, to test their limits, and to try new things.
The naturally competent child Of course, no parent wants to see their child get injured. But research suggests that theDanish parentsand theAmerican parentshave different perceptions of risk – as well as distinct thresholds to determine what they consider dangerous.
A studythus compared the reactions of American and Danish mothers to images showing a child engaged in 30 different types of play: sledding, biking, using a saw to cut wood, or climbing a tall tree, for example.
She showed that Danish mothers were, on average, more likely to feel comfortable with the idea that their own child would be in these situations. In subsequent interviews, Danish mothers were also more inclined to explain that they introduced their children to certain risky activities, for example by teaching them to use tools.
One of them recounted having shown her 5-year-old child how to handle an axe to cut wood. In Denmark, daycares and kindergartens often even teach children to use a sharp knife, some handing one back”knife diploma”once this skill is acquired.
Learning to ride a bike, on the other hand, can be done in what is called”circulation areas”, equipped with child-sized streets, bike lanes, traffic lights, and signs. This difference in risk tolerance might be explained by distinct educational approaches.
Danish parents consider their childrenas naturally competent, which means that they trust them to face risks and difficulties. Adults then seek to create environments that allow these natural skills to flourish; they favor encouragement of cooperation rather than control.
On the contrary, theAmerican parents are more likely to considerchildren as vulnerable and needing to be protected.
Mental health is a major concern: according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2023,40% of American parentssay they are extremely or very worried at the idea that their child may one day suffer from anxiety or depression.
Ironically, children who have less autonomy are also more likely toto encounter psychological difficulties. A Danish kindergarten where the days are spent exploring the forest. When permissiveness goes too far Letting children take the initiative can work very well, but there are also times when they are not able to perceive or anticipate certain risks.
Young Danes, for example, consume more alcohol than their European counterparts.A recent surveyshowed that nearly seven out of ten Danish ninth-grade students had consumed alcohol during the past month, and that one in three had been drunk during the same period.
A study revealed that Danish parentsstricter regarding alcohol consumptionwere less likely to have adolescents drinking frequently. But, overall, the Danish culturemaintains a very permissive attitude towards alcohol, so that these parents remain rare.
Furthermore, Danish children aged 10 yearsare among those who own a smartphone most often in the world, even though somestudies have shownthat owning a smartphone among children is associated with higher levels of depression, stress, and anxiety, as well as poorer quality sleep.
But these statistics do not concern gambling, which even someemergency doctors and nursesdefend. They rather show that permissive parenting styles can also have negative effects. The benefits of risk-taking – learning to tolerate failure, distress, and uncertainty – are not only important in childhood.
They are at the heart of what makes us human beings.
Marie Helweg-Larsen has received funding from the National Institutes of Health. –ref. In Denmark, children take more risks and that could contribute to their well-being –https://theconversation.com/in-denmark-children-take-more-risks-and-this-could-contribute-to-their-well-being-282759