To prevent young children's injuries, studies have considered both child (e.g., temperament, age, sex) and parent factors (e.g., parental supervision and style, attachment) associated with risk-taking behaviors. Building on risk-taking theory literature, Jonas and Kochanska (Jonas & Kochanska, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology 46:1573-1583, 2018) adapted the dual systems model (Steinberg, Developmental Review 28:78-106, 2008) to children and suggested that risk-taking propensity arises from an imbalance between the overactivation of the child's socioemotional system (sensation seeking or traits of surgency) and the lower cognitive control system (lack of self-regulation or of effortful control). However, from an intergenerational transmission perspective, it is relevant to consider the role both parents' and the children's socioemotional and cognitive control systems have on a child's risk-taking behaviors. The current longitudinal study is the first to examines sensation seeking and lack of self-regulation in parents in addition to the child's surgency-effortful control imbalance to understand the child's risk-taking behaviors. The sample comprised 177 two-parent families (89 boys) observed at two time points (child age ranges: 12-18 months and 24-30 months). Both parents provided sociodemographic information and completed self-reported questionnaires on sensation seeking and self-regulation, child's temperament and risk-taking behaviors. Results showed that fathers' higher sensation-seeking and mothers' lack of self-regulation were associated with higher children's risk-taking behaviors. After controlling for these parent factors and child sex, child surgency-effortful imbalance was strongly associated with higher children's risk-taking behaviors. An adapted dual systems model including both parents (sensation seeking and self-regulation) and children (surgency-effortful imbalance) seems a promising avenue to a fuller understanding of children's risk-taking behaviors.