Risk-takers, Innovators and Teens, oh my!

I am sure you have heard (or experienced) that children become greater risk-takers during adolescence. As parents, we may stay awake at night worrying, but should we? To answer that question, and to truly understand how to turn this concern to an advantage, we must first understand a bit about the adolescent brain.

During adolescence, our kids’ brains are experiencing their second biggest round of growth and change. At this same time, they are experiencing an increased drive for rewards, which leads to a desire to feel life more fully, seek new experiences, and, unfortunately, sometimes, act impulsively without weighing the risks. But that same drive for novelty has an upside. Adolescents are naturally suited to develop a greater capacity for innovation and creativity when they are given sufficient time and space to do so. One cannot truly innovate, conceptualize new ideas or things without being willing to take risks. Because of the very changes occurring in their brains, adolescents are perfectly positioned to try new experiences, create, and innovate. The challenge for parents is how can we provide both the freedom they seek and the parental oversight they need—the combination of which seems essential to their healthy development?

During adolescence, it is developmentally appropriate for teens to turn from parent to peers. This change may feel sudden and disconcerting to us. Their rapidly growing social circles suddenly become more important than we are, and our dinner conversations may dwindle to one-word responses. This is not to say they no longer need the adults in their life, but it is normal for them to surround themselves with peers who are also thinking in new ways and are looking at the world from new perspectives. Our initial response might be to resist these changes, but a more productive approach is to consider how we can bridge this newly forming divide in a way that will keep our adolescents safe from unnecessary, dangerous risks yet give them the freedom that they also need to develop their creative potential.

Data suggest that adolescents who don’t have adults in the picture during this time are more likely to take all kinds of dangerous risks. At the same time, adolescents who become disconnected from their peers suffer isolation, depression, and can lose the creative benefits of novelty-seeking (as we saw happen to some during COVID). In fact, there is an evolutionary and practical need for adolescents to maintain balanced connections to both their peers and the adults in their life.

So how do we create this balance so that innovation can thrive at school and at home and continue for a lifetime while keeping our adolescents safe? The answer is in the relationships built between adolescents and caring adults (at home, school, activity centers, etc.). Adults who provide warmth, love, age-appropriate limit-setting (yes, boundaries) and some level of autonomy are exactly what adolescents need. It’s a tricky balance. We all need to adjust on the fly, and no one gets it exactly right. Including your teens in this discussion is key; helping them understand their brain and what is going on during this time is helpful. As they get older, they should become increasingly responsible for more of this work, taking on more of the decision-making and anticipating and understanding the consequences of their actions. All of us—adolescents, care-givers, teachers—must understand that this process is what ultimately promotes innovation, channeling teens past simple risk-taking in creative directions.

The world evolves thanks to innovation. Adolescents are true innovators; in fact, they are born to fill this role, provided they get the opportunities they need and the support to thrive.

Nationally-recognized visionary in the areas of educational system improvement and innovation, educational consultant Marja Brandon has been a teacher, head of school, and founder of Seattle Girls School. She volunteers to offer advice and writes articles for TeensParentsTeachers.

 Like most of the pictures on TeensParentsTeachers, the picture posted with this article is courtesy of a free download from Pixabay.com.