Why Calculated Risk Builds Stronger, Healthier People

Risk, Danger, and the Freeranger Way

From my childhood in Putaruru to my current work helping people improve their well-being, I've learned something important. Taking chances doesn't mean you'll face danger, and inevitably be hurt. Learning to accept well-thought-out with skill and experience means taking risks can make you stronger, help you handle tough times, and boost your confidence, so you make the most of life.

In my view, the current obsession with "keeping safe" is doing more harm than good. We're raising children who are risk-averse, physically unskilled, and emotionally fragile. We're protecting them to the point of weakening them. That's not the Freeranger way.

Risk Isn't the Enemy — It's the Teacher

Let's clarify the difference.

Risk is uncertainty. It holds the potential for both gain and loss.

Danger is the presence of actual harm.

When we equip ourselves with knowledge and skill, we reduce danger — but risk remains, and that's a good thing. Risk is what brings growth. It's what makes life worth living.

When I worked for the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in the late '70s and early '80s, this was a topic of constant discussion: how do we promote safety without smothering personal freedom and adventure? How do we reduce harm without taking away the very challenges that build capable, confident humans?

The answer, then as now, lies in preparation through physical skill, and accumulating experience.

Skill is the Antidote to Danger

If you want to reduce danger while maintaining the benefits of risk, teach skills. Build competence. Encourage children and adults alike to move their bodies, master their coordination, and engage with the world.

There's no substitute for learning through doing.

• Learning to swim gives you the ability to survive and thrive in water.

• Learning to paddle a canoe teaches balance, rhythm, and respect for the power of nature.

• Learning to ride a bike is a gateway to independence and exploration.

• Hiking a mountain builds endurance, problem-solving, and courage.

• Playing netball or rugby teaches teamwork, quick decision-making, physical control, and mental toughness.

Every one of these activities, and more, introduces the idea of manageable risk. And in facing those risks, children become stronger, more confident, and less likely to panic when real challenges arise. They don't just gain physical skills — they gain life skills.

Caged vs. Freerange?

Let me put it another way — one that's at the heart of the Freeranger ethos.

A free-range chicken roams, forages, and learns through experience. It gets stronger because it has to. It knows how to adapt to the environment. It learns resilience the hard but honest way.

A caged chicken, on the other hand, knows only what it's been given. It doesn't explore. It doesn't face a challenge. It survives in comfort — until the system fails. Then, it perishes.

Our children — our future leaders — mustn't be raised in cages, however padded or well-meaning. They must be freerangers.

Fatherhood and the Strength of Masculinity

Traditionally, teaching children the skills of resilience, physical competence, and risk awareness has been the quiet but vital duty of fathers. Whether it was showing a child how to climb a tree, light a fire, ride a bike, or stand their ground in a tough moment — these lessons, passed from father to child, helped shape not just strong individuals but strong societies.

Today, we must ask: have we lost this legacy? Are absent fathers and the ongoing assault by a woke ideology — where masculine traits are too often labelled as "toxic"—eroding the very idea of what it means to be a man? Men need to take back that role. Not through dominance or aggression, but through leadership, strength, integrity, courage, and service. It's time to reclaim the many positives of manhood, including the timeless duty to prepare the next generation — physically, mentally, and emotionally — for the real world.

That isn't something to be ashamed of — it's something to be proud of.

Resilience Through Action

The Freeranger way embraces calculated risk. It encourages movement, exposure, and skill-building. It fosters confidence through competence — a principle as important for health as it's for life.

It's not about recklessness. It's about being willing to face challenges, knowing that a little discomfort, a few scrapes, and even the occasional failure are needed to grow.

This is what I've been taught in sport, active recreation and in life. And it's a lesson I've passed on to my children and grandchildren — like when my daughter and her husband recently took their boys across the Tongariro Crossing in rough conditions. That wasn't "dangerous." It was a calculated challenge. They were prepared. The boys came back tougher, wiser, and more capable for it.

Build Strong Bodies to House Strong Minds

We must reconnect physical development with emotional and mental resilience. A child, boy or girl, who can climb, jump, balance, paddle, and swim becomes an adult who can stay calm in a crisis, lead with confidence, and persist when life gets tough.

It's not just about playing sport, or climbing a mountain. It's about life preparation.

When you teach a young person to master their body, you give them the tools to master their mind and emotions as well. This is the blueprint for thriving in an unpredictable world — one that doesn't hand out participation trophies for surviving comfort.

The Freeranger Way Forward

Let's stop telling our children to "be safe" — and start helping them become strong, adaptable, and skilled. Let's teach them to take calculated risks, and support them when they fall, not wrap them in bubble wrap, and hope the world never touches them.

Let's raise freerangers, not caged chooks.

Because when life throws challenges — and it always does — it's the freerangers who stand up, square their shoulders, and say: "I've trained for this."

That's the future I believe in. That's the world I want to help build — one skill, one adventure, one challenge at a time.