[stephenkhoo]

The truth of life is that people who are too cautious cannot expect to gain much. Taking risks is a necessary element of life. As the axiom says, “no venture, no gain”.  Yes, to be alive is to take risks.  In everything we do or say each day, we are consciously or unconsciously undertaking risks.  Waking up and going to work is surely a risk because we do not know whether the vehicle we are travelling in will be involved in an accident or not.  Staying at home or at the office can also be risky because you might get trapped in a fire.Allowing our children to grow in maturity requires that we give them graded freedom.  Giving them freedom entails risk as well because they might abuse that freedom.  Yet, by failing to trust our children to make responsible decisions on their own and learning to take charge of their lives, we eventually destroy them because they grow up to be weaklings, unable to fend for themselves.  If these children never grow up, it is simply because they have never been given the opportunity to exercise responsibility in their lives.  Even if a simple thing like waking up in the morning requires the parents’ intervention, it shows the kind of responsibility the child has for himself.  But if we take risks and are willing to allow them to learn through their mistakes, then the child will learn very quickly the importance of making wise choices because he will have to be answerable for what he does or does not do.   Yes, if we do not take risks, there is no way to live our lives enthusiastically.  Simply staying at home and not doing anything can be considered the least risky thing to do, but we will be bored to death anyway.