Benefits of Risky Play

Playgrounds today are sterile in comparison with what they were like a century ago. When play became safer, people grew softer. Today, have we succeeded in producing the “Strawberry Generation”?

In 2018, the American Academy of Pediatrics published a report urging paediatricians to prescribe play during visits. The authors described how increasing emphasis on academic readiness led to more and more hours in school and enrichment programmes, robbing kids of the play time that is so crucial for development.

Asian culture has devalued play. We believe that diligence will be rewarded, but play leads nowhere. Play is something to be done after the work is completed. The truth is, play is the work of childhood, experts say. 

Even risky play (or what some parents would consider dangerous play) can be beneficial. It helps kids develop resilience, self-confidence, independence, executive functioning capabilities, and risk-management skills. 

Research by Norwegian early childhood education professor Ellen Sandseter reveals six kinds of risky play that promote independence in children: playing at great heights, travelling at great speeds, playing with dangerous tools, playing with dangerous elements like fire or bodies of water, rough and tumble aggressive play, and play where there’s the potential to get lost.

These kinds of play help children develop a sense of mastery over these situations, which Sandseter believes help prevent them from being anxious and fearful of such situations when they grow up. Ellen Sandseter has observed an increased neuroticism or psychopathology in society because children have been hindered from partaking in age adequate risky play. 

Dads are children’s natural playmates. Dads are hard-wired to take risks and are the best people in your child’s life to encourage risky play. With the help of dads, children will learn to take risks safely. 

By Parcsen Loke, Family Life Coach, Centre for Fathering. 

Food for Thought: What was the most risky thing you did when you were young? How did you learn from it?