PLAYLINK / Free Play Network

Why risk is so important

Most of the comments so far are about symptoms, solutions and problems relating to an assumed agreement that risk is important, but sometimes I think that we should just pause to think about why we agree that risk is so important. So despite the fact that I am almost certainly preaching to the converted and repeating what I have already put in a comment, I thought I would just outline why I think it is important.
Posted by: Robin Sutcliffe, facilitator, Sutcliffe Play, 05 July 2007, 18:16

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Parental Peer Pressure?

My personal view is that a lot of the risk aversion evident amongst parents is generated by parental peer pressure. There is an alusion to this elsewhere in the forum in a reference to the only kids out on the street being the bad ones, infering their parents don't care. I saw it in action when my kids were at primary school when mums would whisper, he's going home alone, I expect she's in the pub!
Posted by: Alan Sutton, Policy Officer, London Play, 04 July 2007, 18:04

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CARS

The biggest challenge for me, in allowing my 6 year old the freedom to play in, and control, his environment, i.e. the street outside our house, is the risk posed by cars.
Posted by: cheryl, parent , motherhood, 12 July 2007, 18:11

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Alternatives to Wetpour

I am advising various groups around our county who are putting in new play equipment. The question of surfacing and the cost of it keeps arising and since the Playday seminar on risk with Robin Sutcliffe, I am advising them to steer clear of wetpour, but I keep getting asked what they should use instead.... Any suggestions or is bark the best bet?
Posted by: Carolyn Port, Play Development Advisor, Wiltshire County Council, 12 July 2007, 13:37

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What else needs to be done?

It seems to me that there has been much improvement in the last few years regarding the acceptance of risk in play provision and the comments on the website reflect this. The legal environment has also changed – in no small part to the efforts of my 3 co-facilitators (amongst others). However, there is still a problem at the front end, with those responsible for procuring play space provision being nervous particularly regarding litigation fears and general complaints. Maybe a few open questions might open the debate up about what still needs to be done
Posted by: Paul Collings, Director, Timberplay Ltd, 06 July 2007, 08:31

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Children "doing risk"

Neil rightly comments that given the opportunity, people tend to position themselves at a chosen point on a spectrum from risk-averse to risk-embracing, in different spheres of life. Tim Gill calls this "setting one's own risk thermostat". While this discussion forum has, quite understandably, focussed on the policy dilemmas inherent in trying to provide physically challenging play opportunities in the face of an allegedly risk-averse and litigious culture, I think it's also important not to lose sight of the multiple meanings of risk for children at play. The adrenalin buzz that comes from deliberately doing something you know could result in getting hurt is one, but only one of these meanings, and not necessarily the commonest in children's day-to-day play. Other meanings foreground the social aspect of risk-taking, including: management of the risk of being told off by adults, or of ridicule (or worse) from other players; performance of "risky-enough" routines as a group bonding activity; and playing with the actual idea of risk in dramatic role play(as children will also play with ideas of death, sex, power and so forth). Children are part of contemporary "risk society" and are inoculated by exposure to a variety of risk discourses from an early age; this might mean that, given the freedom to choose, they nowadays set their personal risk thermostats a few notches lower than would have been the case a few decades ago. It would be nice to have evidence one way or the other on this point. While this observation in no way detracts from the importance of providing more challenging play spaces, it does provide some grounds for cautious optimism: children may be better than we think at finding as much scope for risk-taking as they need, whatever environment they find themselves in.
Posted by: Mark Gladwin, Play Officer, Bradford EYCS, 23 June 2007, 13:58

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RISK


Risk and Play

I believe the fundamental meaning of these 2 words is LEARNING. Having grown up in NZ the first Public Playground I ever saw was in Australia when I was 18 years old, it was not too bad as it had space, grass, water and sand but I was intrigued by the themed ship and traditional items such as roundabouts and see saws.I had never seen these items before except in childrens books I read as a child. A seesaw was something you made at home with a board and a log in the centre. My experience was I liked the equipment but with the knowledge I have now, I actually liked the space and the equipment was an element of that Play Space.
When I was a child we spent all of our time nr rivers, up trees, digging camps and cycling with spades attached to our bikes, climbing and hanging ropes from trees and swinging, catching frogs in the local pond (I shouldn’t mention that as we were not allowed to do this, but we did and we were not criminalised). Most urban kids in the UK and now NZ are not getting these opportunities and are learning nothing. My last visit to Australia and NZ was like a mirror image of the worst examples in the UK. Fenced off square children’s zoos with rubber matts and no space.
Where has the inspiration gone. (It has not gone its been taken away by lawyers and over zealous health and safety inspectors) This issue is an international issue and I believe “Designing in Risk” to play design is a part of change needed to counter the terrible state of many Playgrounds in the world let alone the UK. The natural environment which include basic items such as oak or beech logs, flat limestone or rounded granite boulders and in many cases trees are all fenced out of your average urban Play Ground and often rural ones too. We need to be working to change this with our philosophy in Play Design as the effect to future generations of children is frightening...

To Risk
To hope is to risk disappointment.
But risks must be taken because the greatest risk in Life is to risk nothing
The person or child who risks nothing, does nothing, sees nothing, has nothing, and becomes nothing.
Without play or risk he/she cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.
PaulR

Posted by: Paul Redden, MD, eibeplay, 04 July 2007, 18:42

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Outdoor Play

As Play providers we understand the need for Play outside, and the benefits that this play gives to young people. We are aware of the obesity factor, lack of social skills, and parents perception of the risk from strangers. To develop properly young people must also be able to take risks and accidents are a part of risk taking they will happen as young people discover their limits. However one of the problems we have to overcome is parental understanding of this and their misguided view that there is a pot of gold at the end of every accident ie the no win no fee culture. Providers are increasingly cocooning the young people in their care because of this fear, the whole of society needs to look carefully at what is happening to this generation of youngsters and change before its too late.
Posted by: Tony Hill, Assistant Play services manager, Southampton City Council, 27 June 2007, 18:36

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Outdoor Play Space Design

Recent meetings with parents, community groups and Local Authority employees have clarified to me why designers of outdoor facilities are constrained.
Posted by: Robert, MD, KOMPAN, 06 July 2007, 21:32

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Helping Play Providers Provide Play

I believe that there is a spectrum of risk with regard to play and development (both physical and mental) on which every adult and child can position themselves - from risk adverse to risk embracing.
Posted by: Neil Phillips, Director, Rubicon Play, 23 June 2007, 14:26

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managing risk

It's clear to me that if we are serious about empowering kids and personalising learning then learning to manage risk [rather than having it entirely managed for them] is part of that process. It's great that there are fora like this, and schemes like Forest Schools, beginning to open that question up. I think I am right in thinking that the proportion of outdoor play against indoor has roughly reversed in 20 years. This seems to me to be a kind of child abuse, as does the notion that children are incapable of unsupervised free play until 14 years old. Ironically, it is fears for safety and about [predatory] child abuse that seem to have leigitimised that state of affairs: a case of perceived risk creating more problems than it solves. is this a question or a rant? How do we move this agenda forward at a strategic level? For example, will the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto help?
Posted by: ben, Projects development, Tide~ global learning, 07 June 2007, 12:44

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Play

I listen to news reports about the need to provide children with alternatives.
Posted by: Ulain Mireku, Training co-ordinator, Kids' City, 25 June 2007, 16:51

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