Do you shudder at the thoughts of “Risky play”. Do the words “stop” and “no” form part of your everyday vocabulary? Are your fears of risk taking evident throughout your environments? If you answered yes to any of the above…this article is for you.
As Early Childhood professionals we understand the benefits of risk taking for children. However, we also understand the common fear associated with such risks.
A wonderful article addressed this topic wonderfully stating that risky play isn’t about pushing children outside of their abilities, more so ensuring thrill, excitement and physical challenge are embedded into the curriculum. Further to this, Quality Area 3 stipulates the need to incorporate this too.
Like every fear in life, the need to address this is key. We have developed some simple steps to support you overcome this:
- Critical Refection – a personal reflection to unpack your fear around risk taking will support you to understand and move forward with a plan.
- Educate yourself on the importance of risk in Early Childhood and learn how to incorporate this into your learning environment. We have linked two good articles to support your learning:
- Seek advice and support from your Educational Leader. Collaboration is key within the ECEC sector. Leaning on colleagues to fulfill elements of each quality area is essential. In this case focusing on QA3.
