I have written 2 previous posts on risk taking here & here. I am a firm believer that is young children are actively encouraged to take calculated risks & decide for themselves as early as possible, they will have fewer problems later in life. When the children are trying something for the first time they are encouraged to decide how far they want to climb, how much they think they can do totally by themselves or how comfortable they are about the sense of 'danger' they may be feeling.
All adults working in the class are told not to lift children up anywhere or when in the forest not to hold their hands while they might walk along a pole or tree if it is somewhere high up that they couldn't normally reach on their own. In the 4 years that I have been taking this approach no child has been injured or got stuck. Children are sensible & unless they have some medical reason for it, won't put themselves in any danger. They do know their limits but also have a great sense of self-belief & I love watching them practice something over & over until they can do it easily.
It is so hard to choose just one favourite post from the link up but I just loved the photos of the children playing in a blizzard in Ontario over at Happy Hooligans. It was wonderful to see the children so engaged & busy & almost oblivious to the snow.
How did your kids play outdoors this week?
Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week! The linky goes live every second Friday at 12:01 GMT+1. Here are just a few guidelines for sharing:
- Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!
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Hi, I appreciate your blog and great information. I believe that children need to explore and play. I remember playing a lot and doing a lot of things like climbing up trees when I was young :) I'm wondering when do children start developing this "sense" you mentioned and how much parental guidance is needed/appropriate at each stage of development. Do you have a book that you would recommend to get more information regarding this type of parenting? I have a baby that is a little over 5 months and loves exploring. I want my baby to explore and learn but at the same time, I'm trying to figure out how to balance things. One small example, do I let her roll over on the grass and put things in her mouth or constantly bring her back to he blanket. This might sound silly, but I'm wondering if I'm not allowing her to explore or too afraid that she'll choke on grass or get sick by putting things in her mouth. Please let me know what your thoughts are. Thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteHi & thanks so much for dropping by & commenting. I have to admit that I really only know this age group as I am not a parent just a teacher, however there is a wonderful blog called 'science of mom' that I would recommend. This lady had a brilliant video of here little one trying & failing a few times to climb a little hill, but she stood back & allowed her to keep trying. I think the key is to not panic & allow them a little freedom to try new things. You cna find the blog at
Deletehttp://scienceofmom.com
Hope this will be helpful to you & thanks again for taking the time to comment.
Kierna,
DeleteThis is a wonderful post! I love how you are allowing and encouraging free gross motor movement and exploration, and trusting children to develop their skills and take the risks they are ready for.
My area of focus and specialty happens to be infants and toddlers, and I facilitate RIE baby/parent play classes, where I create environments (and teach parents how to do this at home) that allow for free movement and exploration from birth on.
I hope you won't mind if I suggest another resource for Anonymous- Janet Lansbury writes a blog called elevating childcare in which she provides lots of detailed posts (many with video)that will help to answer your readers' questions about how to create environments that allow babies to move and explore freely. Here's a link to one post that may be of particular interest: http://www.janetlansbury.com/2010/12/shhh-babies-playing-scenes-from-a-rie-parenting-class/.
I would encourage this Mom to create a safe outdoor play area for her baby by using gating and covering a fairly large area with play mats. If this isn't possible or she's at a park, I wouldn't bring the baby back to the blanket if she rolled off, but I'd stay close by, and if she picked up something that might not be safe to put in her mouth, I'd just acknowledge, "Oh you found a stick. You're holding it." If it was sharp or the baby tried to put the object in her mouth, I'd stop her, and take the object away, saying something like, "I know you want to taste the stick, but I can't let you. Sticks aren't good for eating," or "That stick is sharp, and I don't want you to poke yourself, so I'm going to take it away." Hope this helps!
Oh no Lisa I have no problem with that - should have thought of you & Janet as well, I hope that Anonymous will pop back & get these replies. Thanks for taking the time to reply, Kierna
DeleteWhat a wonderful environment you are providing your students!! The perfect preparation for elementary school.
ReplyDeleteThank you Rebekah, I try to give them the best possible start to their school experience. Kierna
DeleteNot to promote any regional rivalry but I recently came across the slogan of Play Wales, "Better a broken bone than a broken spirit" attributed to Lady Allen of Hurtwood. I have run across parties that would cringe at the thought(and probably rub their hands together at the thought of potential gains from vexatious litigation) but personally I love it.
ReplyDeleteExactly Tess - I can live with a bit of rivalry from my Celtic brothers! Kierna
DeleteRisk taking is one thing I have been seeking out for my daughter. It is so so important. I think I regretfully stopped her from taking many risks in her earluer years because I was too overprotective. I'm learning to relax a little. I havn't blogged about any of our outdoor adventures in the last week - so i am going to link to a post from the previous week about our outdoor urban adventure. I hope thats OK. Thanks for stopping by my blog Kierna and letting me know about this linky.
ReplyDeleteOh that would be wonderful, any outdoor activity at all no matter how long ago is great to add to the link up. I saw 1st hand the difference between my class & another class who were not as used to being encouraged to take risks when we visited the forest with them. These other children looked to an adult to 'tell' them if they could climb on things or whined to get help to get up on things whilst my class just got on with it, weighing things up for themselves or modelling to each other. This convinced me our approach was working. Kierna
DeleteThis also fits into the Montessori philosophy of fostering independence and a "help me to do it myself" mentality. And even as important, to allow special needs children the freedom to explore and learn by self-discovery, including the feeling of potential danger or harm, because parents and teachers can't always be there, as much as we try...my son has Down syndrome, and I always allowed him the same type of freedom to literally "feel it in his body" that sense of danger you are talking about, it was scarey for me but I'm glad now that I did--now if I can just get him to understand the danger of cars in the street, that is a whole different matter!
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa, I have to agree the more I read on Montessori, the more it all fits in with my own approach.I usually have at least 1 special needs child in my class & have found they thrive in the outdoors - it seems to create a more level playing field for them. From experience it is hard for all children to understand the dangers of the road & cars. When I was little we had a thing called the Tufty club & we spent a lot of time learning about road safety. Thanks again for dropping by, Kierna
DeleteSo sorry for linking the wrong thing. Feel free to remove my Eaeter egg post. xx
ReplyDelete