'Witness Board', Jane Millar
If we reflect on how we think about risk in our day-to-day lives, many would agree that we tend to focus too much on the negatives – the what ifs, the worst case scenarios, the horror stories – and not enough on the positives. We know that nothing grabs our attention quite like fear. (So does the media, of course.) This bias makes it very hard for us to take a balanced approach to risk. Here’s one reason why.
I have written quite a lot about the decline in children’s freedom to play and get around out of doors. The topic is often the subject of media debate. In an effort to raise the quality of this debate, I offer two charts with contrasting explanations for this change. Continue reading
Posted in Mobility, Outdoor play
Tagged children's independent mobility, freedom, media, mobility, outdoor play
In a post on her ‘Free Range Kids’ blog last week, Lenore Skenazy questions whether the US is in the midst of a ‘bullying crisis’. She quotes statistics from a piece in the Wall Street Journal that showed dramatic declines in both the fear of attack (down from 12% in 1995 to 4% in 2009) and actual victimisation (where rates have fallen fivefold). Continue reading
Tagged bully, bullying, free range kids, Lenore Skenazy, Risk, schools, USA
The term ‘nature deficit disorder’ – as used by the National Trust in its recent report – has come in for criticism, in a Guardian article, and in a post by playwork academic Wendy Russell on Play England’s Love Outdoor Play website. I share some of the concerns raised. But I think too much semantics is being made of the phrase. The critique also takes too little account of what the children and nature movement is actually saying and doing.
Posted in Health, Nature, Outdoor play
Tagged campaign, health, National Trust, nature deficit disorder, public-policy
Rethinking Childhood 