Taking Risks

A new study has found that modern playgrounds may be too safe for children in that children are no longer encouraged to take risks. According to the New York Times article, one researcher in Norway, Dr. Ellen Sandseter, maintains that there are six catergories of what she calls risky play. These include:

exploring heights (climbing)

experiencing high speed (merry-go-rounds, spinners, swings)

handling dangerous tools (carpentry centers, scissors, cooking)

being near dangerous elements like water or fire (slip n slides, fireworks)

rough-and-tumble play (wrestling, super hero re-enactments),

and wandering alone away from adult supervision (asserting independence).

All these elements of play can and should (I believe) be included in daily play for children, however, they are increasingly disappearing from modern children's lives.

I heard an interview on a tv news show recently with Dr. Jeff Gardere on this subject and I really like what he said. In fact, I liked it so much, I quickly jotted it down. He said that too often, we put safety first because we are not considering NEEDS of children (emphasis mine). We consider liability issues instead of children's developmental need for challenge.

How sad! Somehow we've managed to educate adults on the need to keep children safe, but we have neglected the need that children have to be challenged and to experience risky play. Of course, this education is a result of our litigious society.

Children learn by being stretched to the outer limits of their competency. Child development researcher and psychologist Lev Vygotsky refers to this as the Zone of Proximal Development (ZDP) - the zone being the area between what a child can do independently to what he or she can do independently. In order to learn something new, there needs to be another level to go toward.

If playgrounds are safe, chances are they are also boring and lacking in challenge. If there is no challenge, there will be no opportunity for children to take risks and try new skills. If they don't practice risk taking or doing something challenging or perhaps dangerous, they may grow risk averse. They will also never experience the thrill of working really hard to achieve a previously unattainable goal and the pride they feel at reaching it. By whitewashing children's childhoods, we enable them to grow complacent (lazy) and rob them of the joy of learning - of conquering fear, overcoming adversity and becoming self motivated learners.

I put a lot of thought and effort into keeping my children safe. I make deliberate choices on what food I feed them and how I cook it. I lock the doors at night to keep out intruders. I ensure that the car we drive is maintained and that they have seatbelts on when I drive, because other drivers are beyond my control. I do what I can to make sure that they are safe so they don't have to worry about safety.

I keep a close eye on them when they are playing and I do my best to teach them how to use tools in they way they were meant to be used, but I do let them try things on their own. My children use real knives when they cook. We allow them to light the candles on the table with real matches. We encourage them to climb and hang on high monkey bars. We take them ice skating and skiing and pay someone to teach them how. Then we let them practice their new skills on their own, and yes, we've comforted them when they cried from the pain of a broken arm as we took them to the ER.

I have one daughter who was born a risk taker and was climbing tall ladders before she could walk. My other two don't have that inborn ability, but they are learning. I'm proud of my son for working really hard this summer to do a flip off the diving board at the pool. I didn't ask him to do it, but when he got the idea to make that his goal, I've encouraged him each step along the way.

Was he scared? Yes! He spent a few days saying he was going to try and then chickening out at the last second and simply jumping in feet first. Then he tried and had some painful "back-flops" and finally, after trying over and over, day after day, he did it!