Years ago, I foolishly took my spouse and young daughter to a canoe river thingy. They told us the river was mild. We went down the slow moving water but came to a little rapids section. We immediately dumped it over. That was the last time.
When the kids were young, we would take them to a river park where they rented canoes. We never had a mishap. We also took a scout troop on a trip from Defiance to Napoleon. We had a great time.