How Dr Richard “Harry” Harris Dads - teaching kids to be good risk managers, not risk takers + lots more!

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Oct 3, 2024

Dr. Richard 'Harry' Harris, a renowned cave diving anaesthetist and heroic rescuer of the Wild Boars soccer team, shares unique insights on parenting. He discusses teaching kids to be good risk managers rather than risk takers. Harry reflects on generational changes in parenting and the importance of resilience through outdoor adventures. He emphasizes fostering independence while keeping a supportive environment, critiquing overly restrictive modern parenting. His humorous anecdotes and heartfelt moments make for an engaging conversation on balancing love, risk, and personal growth.

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Intro

00:00 • 5min

Exploring Unseen Depths: The Challenges of Cave Diving

05:29 • 2min

Evolving Parent-Child Relationships

06:59 • 9min

Foundations of Parenting: Happiness Through Relationships

15:50 • 2min

Navigating Risk and Resilience in Parenting

18:10 • 17min

Navigating Risks: Empowering Children through Exploration

35:21 • 17min

Navigating Parenting Realities

52:39 • 8min

Navigating Parenthood: The Balance of Risk Management and Emotional Support

01:01:06 • 5min

“I wasn’t going to miss the podcast just because I was slightly paralysed” - It’s one of the better quotes we’ve had on the show! But it neatly sums up the unassuming yet unflappable nature of Dr Harry, who unless you were on a 12 month silent retreat in 2018, you’d know was the cave diving anaesthetist who helped in the against all odds rescue of the Wild Boars soccer team trapped in a flooded Thai cave. Dr Harry is in a unique position to talk about the art of risk taking, and it’s something he’s taken a keen interest in since that phenomenal rescue, especially how it relates to kids.

In this episode Dr Harry very kindly shares with Hame his thoughts on teaching kids about risk mitigating rather than risk taking, building resilience and overcoming fear, on the generational changes in parenting that he’s noticed and reflecting on what he might have done differently as a dad… it’s a super wide ranging chat - one that we were so, so lucky to have… not least because a few days out from us recording with Dr Harry, he’d been diving down a very very deep cave and had a little run in with the diver’s constant nemesis, the bends. Thankfully it all worked out OK! But I think you’ll agree, it was some Gold Standard Guest Commitment to turn up to our humble podcast, for sure!

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Dr Richard Harris SC OAM & 2019 joint Australian of the Year (nice title, right?!) has got lots of great stuff going on...

His 3 series podcast REAL RISK is awesome. It’s got some amazing chats with people who manage some pretty massive risks (the saturation diving episode is so good)

He’s written a couple of great KIDS BOOKS on different ways to be brave and kind, called Alfie the Brave & Alfie the Kind.

The book he and Craig Challen wrote AGAINST ALL ODDS about the cave rescue is also amazing

AND very excitingly he’s working on a feature documentary called Deeper, directed by Jennifer Peedom, produced by Stranger than Fiction and distributed by Madman. The film follows the story of Harry and his mates attempting a dangerous and unprecedented dive in a remote (and very deep!) NZ cave - it’s out next year and we can’t wait!

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Now, if you DON’T want to take a risk with your next hire car (and who would), make sure you use our friends at HERTZ. And because friends help friends out, HERTZ are offering our savvy listeners 25% off the base rate at hertz.com.au/hodd. Ts&Cs and exclusions apply. See website for details. Big thanks to HERTZ for the ongoing support of the podcast and helping us bring these great chats and discussions to you.

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