Welcome to the Forgotten ECE, the show where before and after school educators, summer
camp and PD staff and CYWs have a place where they are seen, heard and valued.
I'm your host, Jamie Wengler, and I'm so excited you're here.
Hello and welcome to the Forgotten ECE.
I'm your host, Jamie Wengler.
Thanks for tuning in.
Last episode we talked about advocating for ourselves as professionals and for the program
to be seen as it should be, essential and important.
Well, I'm not done with the Advocation Train because today we're going to discuss another
area that needs a little help and expertise, a little guidance, I guess I would say.
Risky play.
What's that?
Never heard of it.
What an interesting new concept.
Okay, I know, I know.
As RECs and ECs, you are most likely extremely familiar with the topic.
How can you not be?
The concept itself gained attention in the early 2000s, which was only 24 years ago.
Let's just hold that thought for a minute.
The early 2000s was 24 years ago.
Okay, okay, okay.
It may come to no surprise when discussed it's often referred to in examples of preschool
and toddler children.
I'm here to tell you that it's equally important in school age programs.
It might even be a little riskier, but thrilling and exciting.
More so for the kids partaking than less so for the adults watching or standing nearby
making sure no one, you know, seriously injures themselves.
But it's essential.
But let's start with the basics.
What is risky play for those of you listening who might not know or who might be curious?
It's defined by thrilling and exciting forms of free play that involve uncertainty of outcome.
There is a possibility of physical injury usually within risky play.
But as mentioned, it is essential for child's development for their physical, mental, and
social health.
It's our job as educators to view children as competent, capable, and curious beings.
And the only way we can do that is treat them as though they're competent, capable, and
curious.
But how can you fully jump into that definition or fully embrace that outlook on children
if you're not willing to let them take risks, take chances, get messy.
But in all seriousness, it's not just about the child being comfortable, the child being
comfortable in the risk.
It's also about where you're comfortable and reflecting on yourself to see if your
comfortableness is imposing on how competent a child could be at the risk that they're
taking.
The only way to counteract your comfortable levels and giving yourself some confidence
in the children's capabilities is providing an area or a designated space for risky play
to happen.
Setting aside an area specifically designed for risky play such as a national playscape
or adventure playground where children can climb, balance, jump, and explore freely will
give them the opportunities in a controlled environment to do this sort of play.
Risky play is seen in categories and one of the categories playing is at heights.
Personally, in our summer camp program, we let our kids climb trees.
We have a rule around it that we've come up with as a collective with the students each
year that involves children being able to get in the tree themselves.
If they can't get in the tree themselves or find a way into the tree using their knowledge,
then they can't climb the tree.
That is not to say that if they pull up a ladder and get in the tree themselves that
they can't do it.
Nope, if that's what they come up with then hey, have atter.
But they also have to be able to use their brain, use that cognitive knowledge on how
to solve a problem.
Other sorts of climbing that is usually found upon is climbing fences, which I don't really
understand because I mean, what really could happen with climbing fences?
I know I'm not silly, I'm not dumb.
I understand that fences are there for a reason and that probably encouraging children to
climb over fences might give them a certain skill set that they might not want to have
when they're older.
But what a challenge.
I've always been a person that if someone's putting a wall up in front of me, the more
I want to get over that wall.
And climbing a fence is a perfect physical example of that.
You tell a child they can't climb a fence, the first thing they're going to want to do
is climb the fence.
But going back to setting up these natural areas for them to risk take, if you have climbing
materials in those areas, then maybe they'd be less likely to climb the fence.
Or is there a fence that you can set up that's meant for them to climb?
I don't know.
I don't know what the right answer is.
I honestly just think that providing the safe area to do so will benefit children in the
long run.
Also, under this category of playing at height is jumping.
I have seen firsthand, educators not allow children to jump out of or off of playground
structures for the risk of hurting themselves when they jump down.
But for the life of me, when I think about me, when as a child, jumping out of those
play structures was the fun part.
Climbing on top of the tunnels that you climb in on the play structure, you know what I'm
talking about, those big yellow or green tunnels that you would crawl from one side of the
wooden platform to the other.
And to climb on top of there or climb on top of the railings was the best part.
And all goes back to that controlled environment.
Our playgrounds are, as early childhood education centers and childcare centers, are assessed
by third party companies in the playground safety, CSA certified.
So if we have climbing materials that the ground has the good fall depth, why not let
them jump off the playground?
Why not let them climb on top of these tunnels?
This is what play is about.
What about balancing on top of the railings?
Unpopular opinion.
What's the worst that's going to happen?
And then think about what's the chances of that worst thing happening.
If a child is confident enough to stand on top of the railing, dare I say they might
be capable enough to walk across the railing.
I know, I know, I know what you're thinking.
I might be losing some credibility, but children need to test these boundaries.
They need to know that they are in charge of testing these boundaries and that we are
going to help provide encouragement where it's needed.
Okay, the next category is playing at speed.
Biking, sledding, skating, sliding and high speeds.
How do we foster this in our centers?
Do you allow your school-agers to bike?
Do you have outdoor toys for them such as bikes?
The last time I...
Wow, I'm coming to a realization right now.
I've worked in a few centers and none of them had adequate speed materials or toys for outdoor
play.
Like, we have trikes for preschoolers and toddlers, but where's the bikes for the school-agers?
Wow.
Okay, what about having a bike a day?
What if you let kids bring their bikes to child care for a day?
Would you let them bike around at high speeds?
And what does high speeds look like?
Because for one kid, which might be high speed or fast, it's not the same for another kid.
And in our programs, in these before and after school programs, that varies greatly.
JK to H12 is a huge gap and not every child is going to be where each other is if that
is made sense at all.
But what's fast for a 12-year-old is not going to be fast for a four-year-old and vice versa.
So how can you be an advocate for this type of play?
Easy.
Know your stuff.
Children need to develop a significant amount of biking skill and experience before attempting
high speed.
They have to be able to sit on a bike and ride a bike.
No one who cannot ride a bike is biking fast.
Let's be honest.
And the kids that are, they've learned how to ride.
You have to trust that they have the skills that they need.
You have to see them as competent and capable in this skill set.
Obviously, you're not leaving them alone.
You're supervising them.
You're there in case anything happens, in case you have to intervene.
And obviously, safety gear is a huge must have.
If this is the type of play you're allowing and that you are going to try, children shouldn't
have to wear a helmet.
That goes without question.
Children have to wear helmets.
If they have knee and elbow pads, by all means, great.
And then providing a safe environment to do so.
Obviously, parking lots aren't always the safest, but if it's after hours out of school
and the parking lot's clear, why not?
Try it out.
And it's not going to happen overnight.
One day, they're going to let the kids bring their bikes.
They're not magically going to be able to all of them supersonic speed bike.
They will have a gradual progression, which will allow you and them to get comfortable
with those speeds.
But then advocating this to the families, advocating this to ministry, advocating this
to your supervisors.
This all goes back to seeing children as competent and capable.
You have to trust that they know themselves because no one else knows them.
All right.
Ha ha, category three, my favorite.
Play involving tools.
I love this topic.
I love this category.
My first year of school age at my current place of work, I reached out on the internet.
It started with a provocation.
A child came in and was talking about a small engine that they got to check out with their
parent over the weekend.
And I remember when I was in high school that I got to take apart a small engine and it
was a lot of fun.
So I reached out on the good old Facebook and asked for anyone that would be willing
to donate a small engine for children to take apart.
We had an old sensory table that we weren't allowed to use at the time because it was
COVID.
So we, a nice farmer had made sure all the liquid and oil was out of the small engine
and donated it to me.
So I went and picked it up, brought it in, had some tools that I borrowed from my dad
and I brought in like a tool briefcase if you want to call it that with all the tools
that they could need, including safety gloves and safety goggles.
And we talked about the importance of wearing the goggles and the gloves when you're working
on it.
But when they came in Monday morning, there was this motor there and they were allowed
to do whatever they wanted to do it.
Take apart the screws, take a hit it with a hammer, whatever they wanted to as long
as they were wearing their goggles and they're being mindful of the people around them.
Tools should not be scary.
We live in a society where you will need to know how to use a tool and the faster you
learn how to use those tools, the better for you.
So they use screwdrivers, ratchets, pliers, what else?
Oh, hammers and I can't think of all the fancy names for tools, but you know, all of the
fun things and they really enjoyed it.
This went on for three weeks of them trying to get this whole small engine apart, which
was probably a task that was a little hard because it was old.
So some of the bolts were rusted, but it was such an incredible thing to see them work
together and problem solve on how to get this machine apart.
And the things they thought this was for and how it ran, it was just beautiful.
It was absolutely beautiful.
And if I would have thought for a second that they weren't confident or that it was too
risky to bring in tools, they would have missed out on an amazing learning opportunity.
Other tools that I've seen in programs are small axes, saws, knives, ropes.
A lot of people like to whittle with their children, which is super cool.
Also serving your own snack.
And I don't mean just serving, I mean the preparations for snack, cutting the cucumbers,
cutting the bread, toasting the bread, obviously spreading the cream cheese or the wow butter
or whatever you're having on your toast.
Allowing children to use knives to cut their vegetables and fruit, it's another tool.
It's another way to say that they're competent and capable.
Wow, I feel like I'm saying that a lot this episode, but I really hope that you're taking
away that children are competent and capable because if not, I don't know how else to say
it clear.
Another great category is play involving dangerous elements such as fire and water.
None of us are able to because we don't have the means to get there, but playing in water,
building a fire, having a fire outside.
Obviously insurance has a lot to do with these rules, but I was lucky enough to work at a
center that we got to have bonfires with the children and I don't mean like I shouldn't
say bonfires, I should say campfires.
We used to have campfires with the kids and we cook meals on top of the campfires and
it was so amazing.
And children learn fire safety.
They learned, okay, if we're having a fire, there has to be a bucket of water here.
Okay, we're allowed to sit on the logs, but we're not allowed to get too close to the
fire because we taught them.
You talk it out.
Children are so smart.
They understand, oh, that's a fire.
I'm going to get burned if I fall in it or if I run near it, but not allowing them to
have these opportunities of learning.
You're robbing them of the graciousness of learning.
You're robbing them of these beautiful moments.
Another topic, another category of risky play is playing with the risk of disappearing or
getting lost.
Now this is tricky at childcare, I must say, because obviously it's serious currents of
a child gets lost, but exploring spaces or play spaces, sorry, or fields with children,
obviously not a cornfield, but where they're allowed to explore the area provided with
bushes and places where they can hide or play hide and seek with each other with limited
supervision.
Wow.
What an opportunity that would be.
Growing up, we used to play hide and seek in the dark.
We, I didn't grow up on a farm, but I lived in the country and we had an okay sized property
and we play with the neighbors and our cousins.
And when it was dark outside, we'd get to play hide and seek outside in the dark.
And it was so much fun.
Those are some of the best memories I had.
And obviously we climbed trees to get away from each other and it was, it was so cool.
Those memories are memories that we will never be able to reproduce if I don't believe my
kids are competent and capable to handle that as they get older.
If I don't think the children at childcare are able to play in the dark, it's okay to
have a light on and when it gets dark in the evening before pickup, because we know in
the winter, in the late fall, it gets dark.
It's okay to stay outside.
We put glow sticks on and play hide and seek in the gym in the dark.
This kind of play is thrilling for the children.
Other types of risky play that I wanted to touch on today were climbing up the slide.
Why not?
What is wrong with climbing up a slide?
I was tutoring ECE in college here in Ontario last year and for one of their courses, they
had to assess a video and in the video, it was a child calling up a slide and they were
asked to mark it wrong, that that was unacceptable and too risky.
What?
If you work together to set out ground rules, then I would have to disagree.
I don't think it's too risky.
If someone's crawling up the slide, you don't go down.
If someone's going down the slide, you don't crawl up it.
It goes back to basic turn taking.
There's no reason it should be banned.
It's like laying on your belly and going head first on the slide.
What is the issue?
I don't know, maybe I'm naive.
I know I'm optimistic, but these challenges seem almost silly to be fighting if you're
actually viewing the child as smart.
If you're viewing the child as someone who has a brain, as someone again, as competent
and capable because there's no reason these things can't be done to an extent.
The last area of risk taking I wanted to talk about, which does not provide a source of
physical injury or a risk of physical injury is social risks.
We live in a high anxiety environment and I believe that we can help.
I'm not saying we can solve it, but I believe we can help with these anxieties if we provide
opportunities for children to work through these anxieties with their social peers at
childcare.
How can we give school-agers the tools to play with one another, to work through social
situations that make them uncomfortable, to stand up for what they believe in?
How do we teach them their rights and how to advocate for themselves?
All of this can be seen as social risks.
How do we teach children to stand up against bullying?
How can we provide them the tools that they need to say no?
I think that's a huge part of risky play because this sort of risk happens every day.
Children need to learn to say no.
They have to be able to set their own boundaries.
They have to be able to give consent and they have to be able to deny consent.
I think that risky play is important.
To reiterate, I think that there's a lot that we could do as before and after school educators
to foster this sort of play in our programs and that it's essential, that it is a must.
However you take this away, you might not agree with me and that is totally okay.
But children are so much smarter and so much more competent and so much more capable than
we give them credit for.
The only way that they are going to learn to set these boundaries and test their limits
is by being provided opportunities to do so.
I would love to hear from you and your ideas of how to incorporate risky play into before
and after school education and your ideas on how to encourage risky play from educators
who might not be as open to it.
And also your ideas if you think of a plan.
That's cool too.
Everyone has their own opinion.
I want to thank you for listening and before I go, I thought it would be fun to do another
question time.
This is the part of the podcast that I answer your questions.
So someone asked me about rough and tumble play in school age and if I let the school
agers partake in such an interesting play form.
My answer is honestly depends on the situation.
But to break it down for you, rough and tumble play refers to physical play activities characterized
by wrestling, chasing or any other forms of energetic but non-aggressive physical contact.
I believe wholeheartedly that it is natural and healthy for children to explore their
physical abilities and develop social skills through these establishment of boundaries.
That not only can it promote coordination and cooperation, but it also helps children
learn about empathy, negotiation and conflict resolution.
But it needs to be supervised and there needs to be consent from both parties.
And there needs to be a, I want to say a safe word that children say when they're done.
It could be stop.
When I say stop, I mean stop.
I'm done playing.
I don't like this anymore.
Now I don't let people, I don't let the children beat each other up.
Not at all.
I don't think that would go over very well.
I mean I could probably advocate for it though, but it's not about the aggression.
It's about play and learning boundaries.
And if you don't, if you take anything away from this episode, I want it to be that a,
children are competent and capable and the only way they can be competent and capable
is if they are learning to set their own boundaries and they have opportunities provided to them
to test their limits.
And rough and tumble play is a perfect example of that.
As always, thank you so much for joining me.
Reach out for questions, comments.
I appreciate all the shout outs and love that I'm getting and I also appreciate any constructive
criticism.
So thank you so much.
Have an amazing week, two weeks until our next episode and I look forward to seeing
you then.
Thank you.
Amazing listeners for your support.
Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at miss Jamie underscore R E C E.
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Thank you so much and happy learning.