Keywords

We did many things. We ran away. We just jumped over the fence and took a walk from the kindergarten. The staff did not go after us, because they probably assumed we would get bored and came back. And we mostly did, when we got a little hungry or things like that. But out there, we went on an expedition in the neighbourhood. It was absolutely magical. There was little to do in the kindergarten, so that’s why we ran away. We wandered around to see if we could find something to do. We did not get any reprimands from the grownups when we ran away. They might have mentioned their disapproval, then, but no higher fences were built in the kindergartens or anything like that. (Man born in 1973)

Children can in many ways be described as being on a journey of discovery in the world, where they explore opportunities in the environment around them, develop and learn new things, and get to know themselves and what they are capable of. On this journey of discovery, it is necessary to dare to try things we have never done before and to face unpredictability. Therefore, children often seek play that can be perceived as a little scary and that involves physical risk-taking, overcoming fear and testing physical strength. Owen Aldis published in 1975 the classic book Play Fighting, analysing both human and animal play. Aldis pointed out that much of children’s play is related to fear and that young children actively seek out the excitement in risky situations, such as swinging in high speed and jumping down from heights (Aldis, 1975). All children naturally seek to become acquainted with the possibilities and limitations of their own body, and this must be done through play and exploration and by gaining a broad base of experiences.

Everybody Plays

Brian Sutton-Smith (2009), one of the most well-known play researchers in the world, stated that play is a lifelong activity that occurs in various forms at all ages—from toddlers’ pretend play to adults who create entertainment by imitating celebrities or dressing up in carnivals. Everyone plays and everyone knows what play is when they see it or experience it, but play is challenging to define (Eberle, 2014). According to Fromberg and Bergen (2006), play is a relative activity, with changing functions and forms in different environments and among various individuals, age groups and cultures, and it is therefore difficult to define. However, even though there is no universal and agreed-upon definition of play, play researchers still agree on some of play’s characteristics. Play is a voluntary activity where the activity itself is more important than the goal, and it is driven by intrinsic motivation that is self-initiated and self-controlled (Bateson, 2005; Lillemyr, 2021). This is consistent with how children themselves describe play—that is, as fun activity that they invent on their own, where the adults do not make decisions and where anything is possible (İvrendi et al., 2019).

Play is a child’s primary way of being. Although it exists in various forms throughout the life cycle, play is the arena where children explore opportunities in the environment around them and develop and learn new things. They get to know themselves and what they are capable of. An important element of play is unpredictability, and much of children’s play is about crossing boundaries, stretching limits, trying new things, and putting themselves to the test.

Risky Play

Children play most of the time when they are given the opportunity to do so (Sandseter & Storli, 2020). Play starts in infancy, where the small child constantly explores the world they were born into and what they can manage to do in their environment. With great courage and unpredictable prospects, they gain new experiences from the first curious lift of their head, the day they get up on two legs and stand for the first time, when they dare to take their first steps, and further into childhood when they start to climb, run, jump, and engage in other challenging physical activities. It is through daring to take the chance to throw themselves into play and activity they have not tried before—to try and fail—that children learn about the world and themselves.

The kindergarten is on its way to the shore, and we have come to a bay along the fjord where we leave our bags to play. On the south side of the bay, there are steep mountains that rise, and which partially plunge straight into the sea. Tom (four years) exclaims: “Oi! I want to climb here!” He climbs up where the rock is at its steepest. Some of the other boys lose interest in the seaweed on the shore and start climbing after him. Tom has reached all the way to the top and stretches his arms in the air: “YES! I managed to climb all the way up!” He climbs further up the hill—approximately four meters above the beach. Simen (four years) and Jan (five years) come running. Simen shouts loudly, “YES! Climbing!” They both start climbing too. (Observation in kindergarten)

Children seek risk experiences and thrills through play. Unlike many adults’ search for excitement through white-water kayaking, technical climbing, mountaineering, or bungee jumping, children can achieve the same experience by balancing on a slippery log or sliding head first down a slide. Stephenson (2003) found through observations and interviews of four-year-olds that trying something they had never done before, feeling on the verge of not having control (often due to height or speed), and overcoming fear were important criteria for experiences of excitement and risk in play. This is similar to what Hughes and Sturrock (2006, p. 42) called deep play, which is described as activities children try out, often for the first time, and which involve risky or demanding movements. According to them, one should look for signs of hesitation and fear to discover situations of deep play. According to Stephen J. Smith (1998), who made observations of children who play, children’s risk-taking in play can be seen in connection with activities such as climbing high, sliding, jumping off something, balancing, and swinging at high speed. Similarly, studies of slightly older children have shown that climbing (often combined with jumping from great heights), swinging (often in experimental and challenging ways), and going out to explore on their own (preferably away from the eyes of adults) are what the children point out as fun and exciting activities (Coster & Gleave, 2008; Davidsson, 2006). From the adults’ point of view, rough-and-tumble play is also highlighted as a risky form of play (Sandseter, 2007). Rough-and-tumble play includes the chance that children inadvertently hurt or injure each other while wrestling, fighting, fencing, and so on.

In the Norwegian context, one of the authors of this book (Sandseter, 2007) observed and interviewed children (four to six years old) and employees in Norwegian kindergartens to explore what they experienced as risky play. Although it is difficult to define play, risky play, based on the results of this study, is described as “thrilling and challenging play that involves uncertainty and a risk of physical injury” (Sandseter, 2014, pp. 14–15). To be able to recognize risky play when observing children playing, Sandseter (2007) suggested six categories:

  1. 1.

    Play with great heights: danger of injury from falling—for example, climbing (in all kinds of forms), jumping from heights, hanging/swinging in great heights, and balancing in great heights.

  2. 2.

    Play with high speed: uncontrolled speed and pace that can lead to collision with something (or someone), such as cycling at high speed, sledging (in the winter), sliding, and running (in uncontrolled speed).

  3. 3.

    Play with dangerous tools: that can lead to injuries, such as axes, saws, knives, ropes, and hammers and nails.

  4. 4.

    Play near dangerous elements: where children can fall into or from something, such as steep cliffs, water/sea, and campfires.

  5. 5.

    Rough-and-tumble play: where the children can harm each other, such as wrestling, play fighting, fencing with sticks, and chasing.

  6. 6.

    Play where the children can “disappear”/get lost: where the children can disappear from the supervision of adults or get lost when they are allowed to explore (e.g., on hikes in the forest).

In addition, a recent observational study among the youngest children (one- to three-year-olds) in Norwegian kindergartens identified two additional categories for risky play (Kleppe et al., 2017):

  1. 7.

    Play with impact: when a child, for instance, speeds up the tricycle and crashes into a wall or fence just for the sake of the play.

  2. 8.

    Vicarious risk: when a young child observes an older peer doing something scary and shares the thrilling and exciting experience from it.

Although the degree of risk a child takes in play is individual from child to child (Sandseter, 2009a), studies have shown that all children, both boys and girls, engage in this type of play in one way or another (Sandseter et al., 2020b). Risky play has been found among children and young people in a wide range of age groups, including one- to three-year-olds (Kleppe et al., 2017), four- to six-year-olds (Sandseter, 2007; Sandseter et al., 2020b), and four- to thirteen-year-olds (Coster & Gleave, 2008). Risky play is also a fairly common type of play among children. In a study where children’s free play in kindergarten was examined, in both indoor and outdoor environments, the researchers found that around 10 per cent of children’s play could be described as risky (Sandseter et al., 2020b). In the indoor environment, this type of play accounted for approximately 7 per cent, whereas in the outdoor environment, risky play was slightly more common and accounted for 13 per cent.

Children’s Assessment and Risk Management

Several observational studies of children’s risky play have indicated that children are aware of the risk they are taking. It is also documented that the children have strategies for reducing or increasing the risk and adapting it to their own individual limit for how much risk they dare take, their competence level, and how they experience the situation. An ethnographic study in Denmark, which included ten- to twelve-year-olds, shows that they actively seek out, regulate and in a good way manage the everyday risk they encounter when they travel around the local community and participate in activities (Christensen & Mikkelsen, 2008). Research among children aged seven to eleven has also shown that children have knowledge of the risk level in a play situation and know how they can reduce the risk to avoiding accidents or injuries. This study also found that children primarily base the regulation of risk on previous experiences they have from similar situations (Green & Hart, 1998). Similarly, Sandseter (2009b) observed four- to five-year-old children and found that their risk decisions are a balancing act in which they assess the possibility of a positive or negative outcome of the play situation based on previous positive and negative experiences.

In studies where more targeted tests have been conducted to determine whether children are able to perceive and assess risk in various situations, researchers have shown pictures to children of situations with different degrees of risk. These studies found that children from the ages of four to ten are able to distinguish between different levels of risk (Hillier & Morrongiello, 1998; Little & Wyver, 2010; Nikiforidou, 2017). In Little and Wyver’s study, interviews with the children also showed that they use their risk assessment competence to make risk decisions when they play. It thus seems that children who have previous experience with risky situations gain an experience base that they actively use when assessing and managing risk in other situations.

Interviews with children aged four to five show that children are even able to orally express and describe the strategies they have for increasing or decreasing the risk in play. For example, they seek higher risk and excitement by increasing speed or altitude or choosing creative and more risky courses of action such as sliding head first down the slide on their stomachs. Otherwise, they seek to reduce the risk by actively avoiding too much speed or altitude, being more careful, and choosing less risky strategies, such as climbing a little further down the tree before jumping (Sandseter, 2010).

Changes in Conditions for Risky Play

I probably think I’m more … I’m maybe more protective of my own kids than my parents were when I was growing up. I do not know if it’s about me, but it probably is. But it’s also the fact that more of the play now happens indoors. When I was growing up, we were more outdoors. At that time, the kids went outdoors to meet and didn’t meet so much in each other’s homes and houses. (Man born in 1973)

Because risky play involves exposing oneself to potential dangers, much of the discussion around this type of play has focused on important issues of child safety. This has been particularly prominent in Western societies where safety legislation is strongly emphasized when planning and designing children’s play environments and how children’s play can be practically organized and controlled (Sandseter et al., 2017). At the same time, there has also been a pronounced concern about society’s overprotective approach to children, which has resulted in discussions about the balance between safety, risk, and the opportunities children need in order to play and develop. In this discussion, it is argued that it is not possible to protect children against all risks and challenges and that experiencing risk and learning to manage risk contribute to children’s development (Brussoni et al., 2014).

It is difficult to find a balance between the concerns that children could injure themselves on the one hand and that they should have the opportunity to seek excitement and challenges in play on the other hand. The development in recent decades has unfortunately shown that concerns for safety have been more influential than the willingness to protect children’s right to play. A number of international studies have shown that children’s opportunities for free play, especially outdoors and in natural environments, are on a steeply declining curve (Brussoni et al., 2012; Gray, 2011; Moss, 2012). During only one generation, a rapid decline in opportunities for play in varied outdoor environments has been observed (Sandseter et al., 2019). Changes in urban environments have made it more difficult for children to find places for play and development in their neighbourhoods (Francis & Lorenzo, 2006), with increased traffic and fewer playgrounds and parks. Children’s opportunities to move around freely and on their own in the local environment—for example, to and from school—to leisure activities and play areas have become very limited (Lester & Maudsley, 2006; Shaw et al., 2015). This development has been documented in most Western countries in the world, and in many places children no longer have the opportunity to experience the joy of free play in stimulating and diverse play environments. A study by William Bird at Natural England found that the radius of action of eight-year-old children had dropped drastically over the course of four generations (Derbyshire, 2007). An eight-year-old in 1919 was allowed to walk alone about ten kilometres on a fishing trip in the forest, whereas his son, who was eight years old in 1950, was only allowed to move alone around 1.5 kilometres. In the next generation, for his daughter who was eight years old in 1979, the radius of action had shrunk to the point that she was not allowed to walk alone more than 800 metres to the swimming pool in the local area, while in 2007 her son was only allowed to move freely 300 metres to the end of the street where he lived.

In Scandinavia, this negative development has been slower. Most would say that children’s free play and opportunities for exploration, challenge, and excitement are still important parts of childhood. The Scandinavian approach to children’s play has been less limited by a focus on safety than has been the case in many other countries (Guldberg, 2009). Nevertheless, things are changing in Scandinavia as well, with increasing restrictions related to children’s play. Norwegian children, for instance, are more closely monitored by their parents, they move around and play less in nature areas or their neighbourhoods now than in previous generations, and they participate less in self-organized play outdoors (Gundersen et al., 2016; Skar et al., 2016; Skår & Krogh, 2009). Children spend more time doing sedentary activities indoors and less physically active play outdoors. There are also signs that kindergarten employees in Norway are starting to restrict children’s outdoor play due to safety rules (Sandseter & Sando, 2016).

When it comes to safety in kindergarten and school now…From the first time I worked in the kindergarten around 1996, to the last time in 2019, a lot has happened. There have been routines and many forms to fill out, which include writing logs and checking the outdoor area. If you come first to work, for example, you have to check everything, and then one more time check that you have checked everything if any rubbish can be found in the outdoor area, for instance—check, check, check. We did not do that in kindergarten in 1996. That’s just not how it worked. (Male kindergarten teacher)

Why Are We More Worried Now Than Earlier?

There are several reasons why, in recent years, we have continually limited children’s opportunities for play and development, especially in various outdoor environments. Adults often have an urge to eliminate all possible risks in children’s lives because they do not want them to be hurt. One cause for concern is what is called “stranger danger” (Brussoni et al., 2012), despite the fact that kidnappings are statistically negligible. Part of the safety focus that has emerged is also based on increased concern about the traffic situation in children’s neighbourhoods and the fear that children could be injured by cars (Sandseter et al., 2020a).

Although some parents are sceptical that children spend too much time in front of screens, many parents are also happy that their children stay at home in front of a computer because they at least know where they are and that they are safe (Gray, 2011). Furthermore, research has found that factors such as rain or cold weather, fear of being bullied by older children, and poor or lack of play environments are barriers to children’s afforded freedom to move outside and play wherever they want (Sandseter et al., 2020a; Witten et al., 2013). At their own expense, adults are also often concerned about being sued if an accident or injury should occur, and many kindergartens and schools experience pressure from the insurance industry to avoid injuries (Brussoni et al., 2012; Sandseter & Sando, 2016).

Outdoor kindergartens are good at safety, that is for sure. I am more worried about kindergartens that have no experience taking children to environments with water, and then they go on a bathing day with forty children. I actually stopped that in my daughter’s kindergarten. They had sixty children who were going for a hike in quite a hilly terrain by the seashore. I asked if any of the staff had lifesaving expertise. I was not so worried that my daughter would drown, but I was worried about the future of that kindergarten if something were to happen to a child and they had no idea what to do. (Kindergarten teacher in a nature and outdoor kindergarten)

Kindergartens that to a greater extent than others engage in activities that may involve risk, such as nature and outdoor kindergartens, often have a higher level of awareness and more experience in how to ensure safety. They more often participate in hikes to the seashore or to areas with water than an ordinary kindergarten does. If one takes children to such places, it is important to have good routines for how to organize the trip in a way that children are given freedom and positive experiences and, at the same time, ensure that it takes place in a safe environment. Of course, one must also avoid drowning accidents. Another thing is that it should take place in a way that makes parents and other external actors perceive it as justifiable so that one can maintain trust and have the opportunity to continue to offer such activities.

The Perception of Risk Has Changed

Just a few generations ago, taking risks was seen as a necessity for survival and a requirement to get food on a family’s table. For example, children were often involved in farming and participated in work tasks that, in today’s view, may seem risky. Views on children and childhood have changed, and they are looked upon as more vulnerable than in previous generations. Adults feel they must protect children from all accidents and possible injuries.

In general, the view of accidents and injuries has changed from looking at them as something that occurs due to carelessness, bad luck, or fate, to now looking at them as something that can be predicted and prevented (Green, 1999). Among other things, it was proposed to remove the word “accident” from the British Medical Journal’s vocabulary in 2001:

We believe that correct and consistent terminology will help improve understanding that injuries of all kinds—in homes, schools and workplaces, vehicles, and medical settings—are usually preventable. Such awareness, coupled with efforts to implement prevention strategies, will help reduce the incidence and severity of injuries. (Davis & Pless, 2001, p. 1320)

It is fair to say that accidents can be foreseen and prevented. Those who carry out risk assessment and management—for example, on oil platforms and in airlines—have the responsibility of identifying the risk of accidents and implementing measures to minimize this. This works in contexts where there is a vision of zero tolerance for accidents and injuries. Nevertheless, it does not work very well in contexts such as playgrounds, where the purpose is to promote play, development, and learning, and in ensuring that children can thrive and find it attractive to be active there. Formal risk management strategies have emerged in several countries, and they involve relatively strict regulations of play environments and playground equipment. Many of these regulations include maximum fall height, shock-absorbing surfaces, removal of sharp edges and unstable equipment, and reduced probability of being stuck, squeezed, or hit by something (Spiegal et al., 2014).

Are There More Child Injuries Now Than Earlier?

Injuries are a possible result of thrilling and risky play. Serious disabling injury or death, in the worst case, is of course something we should protect children from. Much of the excessive safety in the Western world is based on the fear that serious accidents will happen. Nevertheless, official statistics on playground accidents from several countries have shown that despite the introduction of laws and regulations that will make playgrounds safer, the number of playground accidents has not decreased (Ball, 2002; Chalmers, 1999). Most playground accidents are considered small in terms of the kind of damage they result in. Often these injuries are abrasions, sprains, and fractures that occur due to falls from swings, slides, or climbing towers. A Norwegian survey of injuries in kindergartens found that 98 per cent of the injuries were minor (Sandseter et al., 2013). Serious and disabling accidents are very rare.

There were no serious injuries, and no one died when we played in the street. And it’s pretty amazing. The road where we played was quite steep and ended in a larger (and busier) street. In those days, they did not put sand on the snowy road in winter, or at least only on a part of it. So we used to start riding our kicksleds and toboggans from the top, and the street is long and has turns so you get a very high speed. And if you could not stop, you would turn right into the heavily trafficked road at the bottom. So there we had races, from when we were quite young, and it was even more fun when it was dark. If we had kicksleds, there was always someone sitting and someone standing behind, and there was a fight on the way down, so you could push the one you were racing against; everything was allowed, and you could throw snowballs and such. And we used steering-wheel sleds and toboggans. If we had hit a car, it would have been over. But it was a lot of fun. (Man born in 1973)

Norwegian injury statistics have shown that children in Norway have never been as safe as they are now. These statistics do not distinguish between accidents during play and other types of accidents such as traffic accidents, which account for a large proportion of accidents. Nevertheless, there has generally been a sharp decline in the number of accidents and deaths among Norwegian children in the last fifty years (Ellingsen, 2008). Many believe that these are not just positive numbers. It is good that we lose fewer children in accidents, but at the same time this is a result of Norwegian children’s childhood becoming more protected. Some will think that they are overprotected and that children today experience a more boring childhood than they did in the 1950s and 1960s. Gunnar Breivik (2001) claimed that children have entered a time dominated by adult-controlled indoor activity, passivation, and caution. This is in contrast with earlier years when self-directed play, physical activity, and independent exploration dominated Norwegian children’s upbringing. This leads to childhood becoming both unexciting and less stimulating and developing.

Poor and Unattractive Play Environments

Growing up in the neighbourhood, it was just excitement and fun. It was like pushing each other constantly. In the street where I grew up, there were many new houses and families with two to three kids in each house. We had the street at our own disposal. There were a lot of untouched areas. There was an old small farm there, and we had forest areas, so we had plenty of space to explore. Some were the same age (as us), but many times there were children of all ages out at the same time. (Man born in 1973)

An unintended consequence of the excessive focus on safety is that play environments for children to a lesser extent give children opportunities for challenges and exciting experiences. Playgrounds and playground equipment have increasingly been characterized by shock absorbers, fences, evenly distributed steps, fall-absorbing surfaces, levelled surfaces, low constructions, and inflexible equipment. The design is based on a belief that people are not able to use the equipment at their own risk but that built-in restrictions and control in the environment are better than the choices made by human action (Gielen & Sleet, 2006).

These regulations have a drastic effect on children’s play in two respects. Firstly, the inability to explore the excitement and risk of a playground could lead to inappropriate risk-taking—either by children seeking excitement in fearless ways on the playground or by children going elsewhere to seek excitement (e.g., on construction sites or train tracks). Secondly, too many safety regulations on playgrounds are linked to what is called “risk compensation.” This means that the experience of risk, among both children and their parents, is altered in a situation where the environment seems safer because of safety measures, such as a shock-absorbing surface on a playground, or safety gear, such as helmets, knee pads, and the like. Studies have shown that both children and adults in such cases unconsciously misunderstand the risk and are willing to take higher risks (Morrongiello et al., 2007; Morrongiello & Major, 2002).

Summary

Taking risks with intention and consciousness is an important part of play. However, risky play can in the worst case lead to injuries. There are few serious injuries related to children’s play, but due to adults’ concerns that this will happen, play, especially thrilling and risky outdoor play, has been restricted in recent decades. Nevertheless, it is difficult to regulate oneself away from the human factor when one wants to reduce risk in an activity such as play and to believe that one can regulate risk as long as human actions are fallible is an impossible utopia. No matter how many safety measures are put into place, there are no environments that are 100 per cent risk free. In children’s play environments, it should not even be a goal that they are risk free.

Too strong a focus on physical environmental measures can reduce the child’s sensory-driven skills. Through the practice of sight, hearing and motor skills, the child can become better able to assess and manage risk. If the child becomes accustomed to “dangerous places being fenced in,” they will be exposed to greater danger the day the “fence” is gone. Precisely because the home and the environments in which the child moves do not consist of standard solutions with regard to safety, it is important to preserve and develop the child’s natural abilities to be able to sense danger in the surroundings. When children climb trees, it is not only to expose themselves to risk but also to practice becoming better at managing risk. (Boyesen, 1997, p. 208)