Risky Play Is Not Only Natural, It’s Vital to Our Humanity

What should safety look like when children and adolescents play? Parents, educators, and other adults working with outdoor play/recess may have a difficult time sitting back and watching their kids or students climb a tree and tussle with their friends because they fear seeing their child or student get hurt. The safety/risky play topic has come up time and time again, especially after COVID. Dr. Rhea knew she had to bring back Professor in Psychology and Scholar, Dr. Peter Gray, for this important conversation on the natural consequences learned in risky play and how vital it is for our children to push the boundaries, regardless of how nervous it may make the adults watching them. Dr. Peter Gray is a research professor of psychology and neuroscience at Boston College who has conducted and published research in behavioral biology, developmental psychology, anthropology, and education. He is author of an internationally acclaimed introductory psychology textbook (Psychology, Worth Publishers, editions 1-6), which views all of psychology from an evolutionary perspective. Much of his research focuses on the role of play in human evolution and how children educate themselves through play and exploration, when they are free to do so. He has expanded on these ideas in his book,⁠ Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self Reliant, and Better Students for Life⁠ (Basic Books), which has been translated into 18 languages. He also author of a Substack series entitled ⁠Play Makes Us Human⁠.  He is one of the founders of the nonprofit ⁠Let Grow⁠, the mission of which is to renew children’s freedom to play and explore independently of adult control. You can follow him on ⁠Facebook ⁠and find many of his published articles on his ⁠website ⁠.Other resources mentioned in this episode:No Rules School in New ZealandPlaywork/Playworkers