An excellent article from Nature magazine explores the research showing that children benefit from risky play. Mental health professionals are discovering that children allowed to stretch their limits in uncertain and adventurous play benefit both physically and emotionally. Those opportunities allow them to develop coordination and spatial awareness, but also confidence and resilience. A study from Norway that spearheaded the field found that adolescents who spent less time in positive thrill-seeking — such as outdoor adventure — were more likely to take negative risks such as shoplifting. A more recent study from Britain found that during the COVID-19 lockdown, children who spent more time in risky play had fewer mental health problems.
“Risky” is different from “dangerous.” As the article explains, “Danger is something a child isn’t equipped to notice or deal with,” such as allowing a child to cross a busy street without understanding traffic signals. Risk, by contrast, is “thrilling and exciting play that involves uncertainty and a risk — whether real or perceived — of physical injury to getting lost.”
We adults, of course, don’t like the risk of injury or a child’s getting lost. We focus on all the things that could happen, no matter how unlikely those events actually are. Certainly, in our current litigious society, we don’t want to risk any injury to kids, no matter how small. Yet, even safety advocates understand that risky play has profound benefits. The head of a Canadian injury-prevention group said in the article, “The benefits [of risky play] are so broad in terms of social, physical, mental development and mental health, I don’t think we can underestimate the value.”
The challenge for us as parents is to keep our kids safe while allowing them to explore and develop self-confidence. I think part of the balance is understanding the definition of danger in the study — a risk that a child “isn’t equipped to notice or deal with.” Some risks a child can’t appreciate until their brains develop more fully. That’s why, for example, we don’t let preteens drive cars.
Other risks, however, we can teach our kids how to handle. We can teach younger kids to ride a bike and why helmets are important. If our kids want to walk by themselves to the playground, we can walk with them the first couple of trips to be sure they know the way and can remember the ground rules. The more skills we can teach our kids, the more likely they are to become confident and willing to try new experiences. And the more likely we are to stop worrying about them, or at least worry less.
All in all, an important part of helping our children develop resilience and grow in self-confidence is remembering that, in the words of the article, “kids with more opportunities for risk seemed happier.”
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