The importance of risky play for children’s health and development will be one of the topics highlighted during a #CroakeyGO, a walking journalism event to be held on 2 September as part of the 11th Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities.
The #CroakeyGO will take place on the UNSW Kensington campus, on the lands of the Bedegal people of the Eora nation. The conference theme is ‘Healthy Cities for All: Equity, Innovation and Action‘ with a special focus on celebrating 40 years of the Ottawa Charter: From Vision to Action.
Michelle Barry, Team Leader, Child Health Promotion – Healthy Cities Australia, reports below on recent efforts to increase children’s opportunities for participation in risky play.
Michelle Barry writes:
Many Australian children do not have the opportunity to engage in risky play, although it is important for their development and wellbeing, according to a world-leading position statement recently launched by Play Australia.
The statement, focused on children aged nine to 15, says activities involving challenge, exploration, uncertainty, and managed risk are fundamental to healthy development for children and young adolescents.
When children and adolescents are exposed to and guided through sequential skill-building activities through risk-taking opportunities, they develop risk literacy skills that equip them for life, it says.
“Risky play is not unsafe play; it can be defined as adventurous, challenging, and uncertainty-based activities that offer developmental benefits through appropriately managed challenges, and distinguished by the minimisation or removal of serious hazards while preserving the valuable learning experiences embedded within risk taking,” it says.
The statement, ‘Growing Through Risk: Supporting Play and Wellbeing from 9-15 Years’, puts forward recommendations for policymakers and government agencies, such as mandating protection of unstructured risky play time in educational settings; and for schools and educational settings, such as providing professional development for all staff in the value of risky play.
It also puts forward recommendations for communities and youth organisations, parents and families, and for researchers and funding bodies.
Previous guidance
The publication follows a previous position statement on risky play for younger children, up to age eight years, which called for:
- Risky play to be promoted in all spaces and places, including privately-owned and public spaces, built and natural environments, including schools and early childhood education settings as well as museums, zoos, hospitals, churches, nature reserves and playgrounds.
- Ongoing resourcing and high-quality rigorous maintenance regimes to ensure such places promote usability, are without hazards and as safe as needed.
- Reconceptualising of risky play. The current prioritising of risk over benefit is no longer tenable and a shift towards a benefit-risk narrative reflecting contemporary research evidence is essential.
- Upskilling/re-educating adults, including parents, teachers/educators, playground designers and inspectors about the importance of risky play. Professional development training that offers examples of risky play in diverse contexts and discusses how risky play can be implemented and managed is particularly important.
The new position statement for older children recognises the distinct development period of children nine to 15 years old spanning primary and high school. If the needs of children in these age groups to seek out risk are not supported, this has the potential to manifest itself in antisocial risk-taking behaviour.
Context
Australia children’s mental health is declining. They are under increasing supervision by adults, with more structured activities and reduced autonomous free time for play.
Combined with an increasingly digital world that is often outside the view of adults, the need for risky play in the physical world to be on the agenda is growing.
Healthy Cities Australia was a member of the reference group for the new position statement. Our children’s health team are strong advocates for this topic, supported by their learning through the Active In-Betweens program that’s been running in five health priority population locations in the Illawarra for more than 10 years.
Healthy Cities Australia youth volunteers, Alysse, Braxton and Kailey spoke at the launch, supported by myself, ensuring children and young people’s voices were being clearly heard throughout the process.
Alysse told the launch audience that a big developmental shift occurs between the ages of nine and 15: “When you are nine and outside, it’s ok to climb tree but at 15, the judgement is there and you are seen to be weird.
“Parents look at you like you’re doing something wrong and sometimes at 15, the main reason to do it is to get a reaction from friends or adults. As you become a teenager, you want to take more risks.”
Holistic development
We need to look at the benefit risk analysis of risky play, noting that risky play is not hazardous play. Risk refers to the possibility of encountering manageable harm that provides developmental and learning opportunities. These experiences enable children and adolescents to assess situations, calibrate their abilities, develop resilience, and build competence through managed challenge.
Risky play involving climbing, jumping, balancing, and navigating challenging terrain promotes fundamental movement skills, physical literacy, strength, coordination, spatial awareness, vestibular system development, proprioception, and motor skill refinement.
Research consistently demonstrates that risky play environments generate significantly higher levels of physical activity compared to conventional playgrounds. Children engaged in risky play demonstrate substantial increases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, contributing to cardiovascular health, musculoskeletal development, and the establishment of lifelong physical activity patterns.
With research clear on the health benefits of risky play, where can you go to take that risk in today’s increasingly time-poor busy cities? Most places require payment and are structured.
Playgrounds are dark at night and not given the same lightening considerations as sporting fields. School breaks are limited and academic consideration encroach on play breaks.
Children are encouraged to be supervised everywhere and in turn parents are judged if not actively supervising their children, even when they are at the age of autonomy. The terms ‘helicopter parenting’ and ‘keeping up with the Jones’ are decreasing children’s opportunities to play, including risky play.
Adult anxiety transfer is also a significant mechanism in this context, with research indicating that parental fear can communicate reduced confidence in children’s competence.
Children may internalise these anxieties, becoming more risk averse, while “hovering” supervision can signal an expectation of incapacity, limiting opportunities to develop independence. Similarly, adult discomfort with children experiencing struggle or manageable failure can impede the development of resilience and problem-solving skills.
Risky play provides an accessible evidence-based intervention supporting holistic development of children.
Braxton, youth volunteer with Healthy Cities Australia, told the launch audience: “Sometimes the best thing you can do is leave them (9-15 years olds) alone – don’t say ‘don’t get hurt’ – give them more lenience and give us some space to take risks and we’ll learn this way much better than being told, we don’t want to be told what to do as teenagers!”
For us in the Healthy Cities Australia children health team, key priorities include advocating for play, for spaces and policy to be child friendly by design, and for children and young people to be central to policy and program design.
Play is preventative health, increasing physical, social and emotional health, and is a cost-effective equitable intervention for communities.
Listen, learn, experience and question how this works in a Healthy Cities perspective at the 11th Global conference for the Alliance of Healthy Cities as part of the Croakey Go: A Walking Journalism event to connect key conference themes with local communities.
See Croakey’s archive of articles on youth health
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