A Parent’s Influence

You are more powerful than you think. Research shows that parents are the leading source of information for their teens, and influence their risk taking knowledge, attitudes and behaviour – even more so than peers.

By encouraging your child to consider the risks in their life and find effective ways to manage them, you can help them to avoid being one of more than 700 teenagers that are killed every year as a result of preventable injury.

Talking to Teens

Many teenagers feel invincible and cannot imagine becoming seriously injured or killed. They do not aspire to be “safe” and they’re not interested in hearing lectures.

SMARTRISK understands that you cannot stop young people from taking risks, and also that risk taking is an important part of a fulfilling life. However, you can equip teens with SMARTRISK’s key messages and offer concrete ways to take smart risks – Buckle Up, Look First, Wear the Gear, Get Trained and Drive Sober.

SMARTRISK’s Youth Programs

Our role is to help youth see the risks in their everyday lives and show them how to take those risks in the smartest way possible, so they can live life to the fullest.

SMARTRISK runs two youth programs in Canadian high schools that use a positive approach to preventing injury:

SMARTRISK No Regrets: A high school program that trains students and their teachers to help other young people take smart risks.

SMARTRISK Heroes: An impactful and inspiring presentation an injury survivor who describes how they got hurt, and explains how to choose smart risks to avoid injury.

Find out More

The parent tip sheets offers ways to manage risk that you can share with your children.

Contact us with questions or to find out how to bring SMARTRISK’s youth programs to your teen’s school.

How to Help

Donate to support SMARTRISK Heroes and SMARTRISK No Regrets.