Katie Dickison

LBST 392

Nancy van Groll

June 19, 2020

                                           Reading Reflection 5

This review on the Position Statement on Active and Outdoor Play is very beneficial in my research on risky play. The reason being is that it not only answered previous questions that I posed throughout other reading reviews, but it also opened my eyes to other issues that may occur physically and mentally when you inhibit a child’s risky play. On the topic of previous questions I had posed, I asked how to best address parents about risky play knowing the natural anxiety towards the safety of their children? Now, this reading didn’t answer my question word for word, but in a way, it not only got at the basis of my question but also may answer questions that I’ll have moving forward in my studies as well as in my job as a daycare worker. With that being said, the statement that answered my questions is that “parents are not swayed by statistics indicating that their communities are safe and that there is a low likelihood of adverse outcomes from being outdoors. Rather most parents are motivated to reduce their control and supervision and increase their willingness to allow children’s age-appropriate-risk-taking and responsibility when they are persuaded that their actions place their child at a disadvantage” (Tremblay et al. 6478). This goes to show how it’s a lot harder to sway someone’s beliefs by saying that they’re wrong, that sometimes that strengthens their argument to the contrary. What we need to do is show parents that what they’re doing, that their actions are negatively impacting their child, that they’re hindering not only their child’s development but their physical and mental health as well (Tremblay et al. 6485-6486). This proves how, not only beneficial but essential, it is for parents to be aware of this type of information. If we want to help our children, we must first inform our parents, and this needs to be done sooner rather than later before more parents strengthen their beliefs against risky play. Once we accomplish this, it may be easier to shift the perspective of risk “from a perspective of danger and harm to one of challenge, adventure, and opportunity” (Tremblay et al. 6491).

Another topic discussed throughout this review that I found very interesting was “addressing the key barriers to active outdoor play” (Tremblay et al. 6488). This review mentions that many factors influence a child’s active outdoor play, those of which include family, school, community, and political/global factors (Tremblay et al. 6477). And that to make the healthy choice a more natural option for these factors, we must first address the critical barriers to active play. One of the barriers that were mentioned was the fear of lawsuits related to liability issues. The reason why I find this particularly interesting for myself is because I work in a child care center where this is the most significant factor affecting our ability to allow the children under our care to participate in risky play. It’s frustrating because I actively find myself inhibiting children’s risky play, but in the position that I hold, there’s not a lot that I can do to change this. And even before having researched the effects of inhibiting risky play, I already had the common sense to know that there is more harm in restricting a child’s play than giving them more freedom to participate in riskier activities. With that being said, I let many of the kids get away with riskier play until I was reprimanded for it. Initially, I didn’t see the harm in it, and I still don’t, but from a caretaker’s perspective, I have to keep in line with the rules of my daycare centre as well as deal with parents when they don’t agree with what I’m doing. From my perspective, my job is at stake, as well as a future in this career. That may be a little dramatic of me to say, and things have never escalated to that level of seriousness, but I do wonder what I can do about my role as an inhibitor in my current position? Is there anything I can do as merely an employee?