Unlocking the Power of Play: The Ultimate Kids Activity
Categories: General Parenting
How to raise resilient children in a fear-based world | Lukas Ritson | TEDxUQ
Earlier this month, ParentTV expert and Wearthy founder Lukas Ritson delivered a stirring TEDx Talk to a Brisbane audience with a powerful message to parents across Australia. His message was: Let’s get our kids outside again.
Before you click away from this article to avoid another parent-shaming lecture about how we’re all letting out kids have too much screen time, consider this: It’s not about screens. Screens and technology will always be a part of our childrens’ lives. Instead, it’s about what is lost when the scales are tipped, the balance is out and kids spend too much time indoors, whether they’re on screens or not.
In his talk, Lukas pointed out that the World Health Organisation has declared an emergency on the state of children’s physical activity. Of the 146 countries included in this evaluation, Australia ranked 140th. OUT OF 146. Ouch.
And while we can expect a little backlash from the little people who love their little devices, it’s clear what is needed, and it’s exactly what Lukas said. We’ve got to get them outside more and give them access to some of those simple childhood joys we had ourselves, not just for the sake of their physical health, but for their emotional wellbeing and cognitive development, too.
A great place to start is with an activity that is arguably among the simplest things to orchestrate, with the most impressive list of benefits: Climbing a tree!
What’s so good about tree climbing?
‘For most adults, times outside climbing trees and building cubby houses are some of our favourite childhood memories, but not all kids today have these opportunities,’ says ParentTV expert and Occupational Therapist, Elise Easdown. In missing out on these opportunities, there’s some surprising benefits that are being lost, too. ‘There’s the more obvious physical benefits of climbing trees such as developing hand-eye coordination, muscle strength and improving spatial awareness. This is all achieved through climbing, negotiating branches, swinging, reaching and balancing,’ Elise says. ‘But, climbing trees also helps build resilience. It enables a child to know their strengths, know how to take calculated risks, how to trust themselves and how to participate in safe, risky play. Climbing trees can also build imagination and give them a love of nature. It encourages more open-ended play with sticks and leaves and allows them to discover interesting things like bird’s nests.’
While we might not all have the ideal climbing tree in our backyard (or even have a backyard!), we can get our kids to a public green space as an alternative, or even an indoor rock-climbing centre if the weather is against us.
What if my kid’s never climbed a tree before?
No worries. If you have a child who’s never even tried to climb a tree before and is not confident, the first step is just looking at it, having a chat about it and how it might be done, all of which can be done on the ground, says Elise. Then, when they’re ready to have a go, there are a few things to keep in mind.
‘Your child must be able to pull themselves up and get into the tree without assistance, don’t lift them up, as they need to know they can get down by themselves. We want them to be able to create a situation where they feel in control and can take calculated risks from the very start. Children need to have three points of control or contact with the tree at all times, such as two feet and one hand or vice versa.’
ELISE EASDOWN
If your child gets stuck, don’t jump in to rescue them straight away, says Elise. Instead, talk to them about how they can do it themselves and talk them down, branch by branch. This will give them a huge sense of accomplishment!
This feeling of accomplishment can be the boost they need to try again, says Lukas Ritson. ‘A child’s physiological response to excitement and accomplishment is the ability to focus, along with an increased heart rate and increased oxygen.’ When a child achieves their goal, their brain will produce dopamine, a chemical reward agent, Lukas explains. ‘The dopamine hit encourages the child to go and do it again, increasing their limit or goal and increasing their capacity.’ They might do this by changing the height they try and climb to, the speed they climb at or the way they climb it. Encourage them to assess the risks themselves, and, most importantly, don’t tell them to, ‘Be careful!’
What’s wrong with saying ‘Be careful?’
The problem with telling kids to be careful is that it denies them that important opportunity to conduct their own risk assessment and decide what they’re capable of.
‘Children can manage risks if they can see them. Frame and highlight the hazard and they will work out what to do about it themselves… All of us, including children, have an in-built safety system that makes our brains only cue us to explore things when we believe we’re physically competent and capable of doing so. The only time that’s overridden is when parents dictate their child’s play. If a child’s doing something independently, then they’re physically capable of it.’
LUKAS RITSON
In agreement with this position is ParentTV expert and risky play advocate Teacher Tom. In fact, Teacher Tom feels so strongly about the importance of risky play that he chose this topic for his chapter in our ParentTV book, Parents, this is the one thing you need to know.
‘Too often, adults step in too soon and we don’t give kids the chance to decide how to respond to something. We don’t allow them to try and self-regulate and troubleshoot.’
TEACHER TOM
Both important skills for adulthood, yes? You can read more about the importance of risky play here.
What other beneficial things can kids do outside?
As well as the exercise, Vitamin D, fresh air and freedom outside gives our kids, there are a variety of benefits from other outside activities that are pretty specific and hard to replicate any other way. Take mud play, for instance. ‘Playing with mud boosts kids’ immunity because the microbiome of their skin becomes exposed to a natural environment. This boosts their resilience from a biological standpoint,’ Lukas says. ‘Mud play is also excellent for sensory fusion. When a child’s exposed to a multisensory experience, it commands all their attention and they learn to focus on one thing.’
Then, there’s that tried and true relationship between kids’ mood and water, as explained by ParentTV expert Michelle Mitchell. ‘If you’ve got a grumpy teen or tween, try this age-old parenting hack: Just add water! You might try giving them a cold glass of water, a cup of tea, a shower, get them to water the garden, wash the dog or go for a swim in the pool. Whatever it is, water can act as a circuit breaker for grumpiness in your home.’
Finally, an excellent recipe for outside fun that’s cheap, easy to assemble and great for kids who don’t like being told what to do: loose parts play. If you’ve got any planks of wood, wire, spare tyres, sheets of timber or shipping pallets, you’ve got yourself a playground with more hours of possible stimulation than any toy you could buy in a shop. Plus, there’s the added bonus of this being an ideal arena to gain practice in problem-solving, resourcefulness, lateral thinking and self-determination, Teacher Tom says. ‘Children aren’t motivated by toys. They think they are, because that’s consumerism, but they’re not. Toys tend to have scripts that tell you how to play with them. When you give kids loose parts to play with, they write their own scripts, and they have a lot more options. Ultimately, playing with loose parts makes kids more creative people, more critical thinkers, and better able to adapt to a changing world.’
Sold? We certainly are!