Category Archives: Child development

On child development

Is technology the enemy of an outdoor childhood?

Posted on October 23, 2013 | 18 comments

iPhone banTechnology has an ever greater role in children’s lives, and its effects are the focus of ever more heated debate. It is easy for advocates of nature, outdoor play and everyday childhood freedoms to think that screens and gadgets are our enemy. But the truth is that things are a little more complicated than that.

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Posted in Child development, Education, Health, Learning, Technology

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Lady Allen – the godmother of play – speaks

Posted on June 24, 2013 | 22 comments

Here is a true gem from the archives of play: extended video footage of Lady Allen of Hurtwood. Lady Allen is the foremost figure in the history of children’s play in the UK (I reviewed her classic Planning for Play – available as a pdf from the marvellous Playscapes blog – in a previous post). The video focuses on the staffed adventure playgrounds Lady Allen created in the 1960s and 1970s to provide play opportunities for disabled children, some of which continue today under the management of the charity Kids.

Some health warnings: at times the language used in the video to describe the children is old-fashioned, inappropriate, and even offensive to today’s ears – though in Lady Allen’s day the terms were standard. Also, the video is somewhat grainy and jumpy. Oh – and Lady Allen’s accent could cut glass at 20 paces. But do not let any of this put you off, or you will miss out on as clear a manifesto for adventurous play as you are ever likely to see.

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Posted in Child development, Outdoor play, Risk

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National Trust shares my plea for benign neglect

Posted on February 5, 2013 | 8 comments

child on a beach at sunsetToday the National Trust’s Outdoor Nation website posted a piece from me that aims to win parents over to the goal of expanding children’s horizons. I had to think carefully when writing it.

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Posted in Child development, Learning, Outdoor play, Parenting, Risk

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“Sort it out for yourself” – sound advice, or too much to ask?

Posted on November 13, 2012 | 13 comments

Bold Park studentsHow do schools and other settings help children to deal with arguments and disputes? And are some well-meaning approaches doing more harm than good?  A young Australian who I met on my recent visit there had some interesting answers to these questions.

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Posted in Child development, Education, Risk

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Child reads own school report that says she cannot read

Posted on July 16, 2012 | 14 comments

Poster with words "you cannot read this sentence"Last Friday I spoke with a parent from a local primary school about her 6-year-old daughter’s school report. The report stated that her daughter “has not met the expected standard for the Year 1 phonics screening check.” The parent told me how puzzled they both were by this, because her daughter could confidently read lots of written material by herself – including this very statement from her report.

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Posted in Child development, Education, Learning

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More ordinary magic

Posted on May 30, 2012 | 5 comments

Cyril sitting on a benchThis image is from an exhibition of photographs taken by children who attend C & K Kindergartens. It was on display at C & K’s annual conference in Brisbane last weekend. Here is what first Jake, then his parent, say about the photo.

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Posted in Child development, Risk

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