Risk-taking in play is essential for childhood development. It helps children test their physical limits, develop their perceptual-motor capacity, and learn to avoid and adjust to dangerous environments and activities.

Three times per week, Colin Fitzpatrick strides into his swampy backyard in Mobile, Alabama ready for a fight. He limbers up with some yoga, tapes his forearms like a boxer, and eyes his opponent. He hefts a sword. What he lacks in training, he makes up for with passion and energy. When he’s ready, he […]