Mothers’ beliefs about risk and risk-taking in children’s outdoor play

Abstract

Changes to social and environmental contexts impact on children’s opportunities for and the nature of outdoor play in many ways. A number of studies over the past decade have noted a trend towards over-protective parenting practices that restrict children’s activities and limit children’s independent mobility and engagement with their neighbourhoods. Through semi-structured interviews with mothers of four-year-old to five-year-old children, this study examined beliefs about children’s outdoor play opportunities and exposure to and management of potential risks in outdoor environments. Whilst the mothers overwhelmingly acknowledged the benefits of risky outdoor play, tension existed between their desire to provide opportunities for their children to safely engage in such play and overcoming their own fears and concerns about their children’s safety. The study has implications for examining ways in which children gain access to outdoor play and the role that early childhood settings may have in providing access to outdoor play environments that compensate for children’s decreased opportunities in other areas of their lives.

Keywords:

• Australia
• child development
• early childhood
• outdoor environments
• parenting

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Helen Little

Helen Little is a lecturer in child development at the Institute of Early Childhood, Macquarie University, Australia. She is a trained early childhood teacher and previously taught in preschools and primary schools in Sydney. Her main research interest focuses on individual, social and environmental factors influencing children’s engagement in risk-taking behaviour in outdoor play. Her current focus relates to how the physical features available in the outdoor environment and pedagogical practices relating to outdoor play provision in early childhood settings impact on children’s experiences of risk-taking in play.