V - Love Does Venturous Play

Venturous play - more commonly known as Risky play - includes factors such as speed, height, and tools.  Much of what constitutes risky play has been removed from our homes and schools in our attempts to keep them safe for our children. Unfortunately, this means we have removed the opportunity for our kids to develop self-confidence, resilience, executive functioning abilities, and even risk management skills. These skills are vital to our children's future success and to the future of our communities as well. 

Of course, there is a balance to be had. As we discussed before, according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, children need to be and feel safe. Ironically, when school and home environments are made overly safe, kids often end up feeling *un*safe because they don't have an opportunity to develop their own risk-assessment guidelines or self-confidence in handling risky situations. 

So how do we find that balance? An article on cbc.ca (link below) advises parents and teachers to focus on “as safe as necessary” over “as safe as possible.” The same article gives other suggestions for embracing risky play, such as 

- provide guidance

- watch out for our own fears

- wait and see

- provide time, freedom, and space.  


Allowing risky play requires courage on our part. It feels risky to us to allow our kids to play in ways that combine the joy of freedom with just the right amount of fear to produce an exhilarating thrill. Prioritizing our kids' needs over our own fears and worries is truly an act of love. 


CBC.ca - Risky Play


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