Characteristics of risky play

Parents’ Perceptions of Risk and the Influence on Children’s Everyday Activities

“…Outdoor free play offers children multiple opportunities to stretch their limits physically and socially, experience a measure of control in their lives, engage in activities that generate "scaryfunny feelings" and other positive emotions (e.g., curiosity, joy, exhilaration). These activities may also be fun simply because they often take place outdoors, beyond the direct supervision of adults and may include an element of risk (Sandseter, 2009b;. Adults however, may prefer children engage in passive leisure activities that they view as "safer" than outdoor free play.…”

“…The consequences incurred in playful interactions foster abilities to deal with uncertainties and develop skills necessary for more complex actions and interactions (Sandseter, 2009b;). Yet, in a desire to keep children safe, well-meaning adults have been shown to unknowingly limit children's access to the full range of experiences and emotions needed to build and sustain well-being and develop resilience ).…”

Mother and child constructions of risk in outdoor play

“…While studies have begun to explore children's risky play (Sandseter 2007(Sandseter , 2009 and parental reactions to such play (Little, 2010), only a few post 2000 studies have included the children's views from a qualitative perspective (Valentine, 2004;Harden, Backett-Milburn and Jackson, 2000) or the views of both parents and children (Valentine, 2004;Backett-Milburn and Harden, 2004). Harden et al (2000) suggest this is because public discourses construct children as lacking in competence about making risk judgements.…”

“…It is not clear how their outdoor play or risk-taking would differ without such adult supervision, or the extent to which this increased supervision from previous generations in itself impacts on children's activities or development. Sandseter (2007), highlights how even pre-school children find venturing out of sight or playing out of sight of adults as 'fun' or 'thrilling'. Certainly, mothers highlighted the change from their own childhoods or indicated 'It's not the same as years ago when they could just go out and be out all day'.…”

“…Gill (2007) (2009) is one of the few that have begun to systematically unravel the motivations and positive emotional and developmental consequences of children's experiences of risk in outdoor play. Sandseter (2007) talks of such risky play as that involving 'physically and emotionally stimulating and challenging environments ' (p.237). This reconceptualisation of risk as 'challenge' is a more positive approach to risk that has underpinned the development in the UK of 3,500 new or improved play spaces and 30 new 'adventure' playgrounds/play parks (Rogers and Pelletier, 2009).…”