{"id":5394,"date":"2018-04-30T21:52:47","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T02:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/?p=5394"},"modified":"2022-05-29T08:14:32","modified_gmt":"2022-05-29T13:14:32","slug":"1144-too-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/2018\/04\/30\/1144-too-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"#1144 Too Safe?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

\u201cCan we be too safe?<\/em>\u201d a parent asked me after learning about our day\u2019s adventure.<\/p>\n

We had hiked a long looping trail. During snack the children realized we were high on a ridge just above our starting point. They wanted to take the short, steep direct route back to the start.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Risky play?<\/p><\/div>\n

What came out of my mouth was the uncertainty about the potential dragons in their caves and the possibility of boiling pits of lava.<\/p>\n

What was in my head was the steep, & rocky descent with snow, ice and unknown cliffs as well as my unfamiliarity with that part of the forest. Also, I was well aware I was solo with children under 12 years of age.<\/p>\n

The students could guess there were likely no dragons and lava. But while discussing the real risks they started to understand the challenges of the unknown descent. I promised I would investigate the steep forest in the week ahead\u2026 and we hiked the long, safe way down.<\/p>\n

After more solo exploration during the week I was satisfied we could descend safely as a group. The next week we retraced our uphill expedition and discussed how we could descend safely. We were practicing “risky play<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Different groups need different levels of support to explore safety and risk. But, if asked to analyze risk, people are usually very capable to assess what is safe for them<\/em>.<\/p>\n

We had a good experience. We weighed the risks and found ways to minimize the hazards. The children practiced the valuable skill of testing their perception and reality of safety.<\/p>\n

Regulating Risk
\n<\/strong>I often see or hear of students denied experiences that offer the ability to develop their self-regulating sense of safety. Managed scenarios can help build self preservation, self awareness and a better ability to stay safe in life.<\/p>\n

When I teach at Forest School we talk a lot about risk and safety…
\n“Can we climb that tree?”<\/em>
\n“What do you think?…”<\/em><\/p>\n

We talk about hazards, risks and what is reasonable. Students usually come to a reasonable conclusion with support and guidance. As we explore more, students get better at assessing risk and regulating their own limits:
\n“Can I go higher?”<\/em>
\n“What do you think?”<\/em>
\n“I think this is high enough for me…”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Risk Assessments and Risk Management<\/p><\/div>\n

Telling vs Learning<\/strong>
\nA couple of years ago, I picked up my own son from school on our bikes on a cool spring afternoon. I asked him to put on his coat. He told me he didn\u2019t need one. He needed\u00a0<\/em>a coat to stay warm. But I said \u201cOk.\u201d We started riding. He lasted less than a minute before stopping because he was cold. He decided to put on his coat…<\/p>\n

Instead of being told\u00a0<\/em>he needed his coat, he learned\u00a0<\/em>he needed his coat.
\nBig difference. It\u2019s called experiential education.<\/p>\n

Can we, as parents, teachers, educators be too safe?<\/em>
\nHmm. We can<\/em> teach risk assessment, regulation and safety with careful planning and management of “risky play.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tweet \u201cCan we be too safe?\u201d a parent asked me after learning about our day\u2019s adventure. We had hiked a long looping trail. During snack the children realized we were high on a ridge just above our starting point. They Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,282,8,283,1],"tags":[27,14,90,300,97],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5394"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5403,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5394\/revisions\/5403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.harrynowell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}