Pay special attention to the edges, you want to wet the banks a bit as well. Now water it well on cold nights until you've got and inch or so of flat, solid ice. We all know some of those falls are painful and others are very scary. Adults are well aware of the fact that they can break something. It is in your best interest to understand that you can fall and not hurt yourself.
Fear is the biggest problem of adults learning to skate.
Fear of hurting yourself. Just remember everyone falls when they skate, the trick is to keep your head up and hands out from under your body when you fall. The reason that non-beginner skaters usually don't land on their heads is that they don't get caught by surprise in a fall. Severe falls are suffered by beginners who struggle, wave their hands and stab at the ice with their skates trying to recover. After falling a few times, you learn techniques for falling to keep from getting hurt.