Adults are faced with a dilemma: on the one hand, children need opportunity to become competent risk managers; on the other, adults have the responsibility to keep them safe.

Critically assess whether this dilemma can be managed within the delivery of services for children.

Risk management has become a high concern in childcare services. Increasing changes in policies and procedures to ensure that risks are minimized have resulted into children not been given the same opportunities that we would have had as a child when we were growing up. Over recent years increasing attention has been focused on childcare services to reduce risk and ensure children are kept safe from danger.

In this assessment I hope to identify what is risk and looking at how society has changed over the years. I will look at both the dilemmas faced by both parents and children’s services, looking at the how anxiety has changed the thinking of risk management.

The subject of risk management is causing great concern in the children’s services. Practitioners face the dilemma of given children opportunities to explore while at the same time ensuring that they are safe.

When looking at risk we have to consider what is a risk? We face risks in everyday life from the moment we get up. When heading to work either in the car or walking it is a risk as we may have a car accident or get knocked down. Children from the moment of birth face risk when growing up. A baby may choke on their bottle or a toddler may fall when taking their first steps. The severity of the risk depends on the consequence.

In our current society parents have become more anxious when allowing the children to explore and learn about risks. Today’s generation have moved from allowing children the opportunity to experience risk to the extreme where children are protected from risks by not allowing them to have the same challenges and opportunities we would have had at a young age. Stover et al., 2013 evaluates asome very valid reason to why this may have come about. It has looked at how parents have become more anxious on where there child plays or goes and the quality of freedom they have, ensuring they are safe from risk and harm. Over resent years it can be seen how attitudes have changed and children are spending more time under adult supervision play area, non- risk environments or indoors in what is seen as safe and secure, replacing adventures play. Children’s play has moved from the positive play also known as risk play where children developed motor skills, control through physical rick????, learn new skills and develop confidence. When looking at comments made during learning guide 13.4 discussing wherediscussing where we played at 11 years of age it can be seen that we were given as children were given more freedom and parents did not have the same concerns about risks as they do today. With growing up in the country side it was normal to take risks and was seen as a safe place for children to develop to their full practical skills. We were rarely questioned about where we played, but rather we had more fears of being caught by our parents and getting in trouble. When looking back on my childhood and growing up with my six siblings, I can also state that we did not have any serious accidents due to the risk play rather than the normal bumps or bruises that every child faces.

In today’s society attuides have changed due to growing changes and trends in young