Did you know that teenagers rank their parents as the main influence over which risky behaviours they choose to engage in – even more important than their peers? Research shows that parents have more control than they might think over whether their teens practise safer behaviours and feel comfortable talking with them about the risky decisions they face each day.

Given the growing amount of research pointing to parents’ influence in keeping their teens injury-free, SMARTRISK is working to develop educational resources for parents through a mix of workshops, resources and presentations. To begin, we are conducting a nationwide survey of parents and their children to help us understand how teens feel their parents influence their risk behaviours and how we can best address safety concerns of teens and their parents.

Thus, SMARTRISK programming to help teens learn to take smart risks and remain injury free will be available not only in schools, but in their homes as well, through discussions with their parents.

“If I’d known about SMARTRISK back then, Stacey would still be alive.”

A video from Ned Levitt, Chairman of the Board of SMARTRISK

Parents: The single biggest influence on risk taking in their children

Please stay tuned for updated resources.