Ideas for supporting a child.

[Cazz]

I'm stuck on this for my Diploma work - I'm not feeling 100% and just can't think what I should put!!

I need to suggest ways which a parent, with my support, can help a child to develop resilience to rough and tumble play and not be overly worried about getting dirty.

I can't believe I'm stuck on it but I am!

Any ideas gratefully received!

[sarah707]

I suppose you need to promote the benefits of rough and tumble play... though tbh I don't! :laughing: I don't want them knocking seven bells out of each other in my living room when the little ones are watching.

You could also talk about the importance of risk and learning to assess / take risks for yourself. This is a vital part of play and links closely to rough and tumble.

Or how about sharing what you do when a child falls and is not badly hurt... rather than rushing over immediately you might say 'up you pop' or 'show me what you've done'... that kind of thing.

Tbh thinking about it I don't think we can influence parents - if they don't like their child getting dirty or play fighting how on earth will we change that? Silly question :rolleyes:

Hth :D

[blue bear]

How about encouraging using soft play centres where children get rough and tumble/ taking and assessing risks in a safe environment? Or encouraging child to jump into the swimming pool, playing sharks, catching and eating again in a safe and controlled environment?

As to not getting dirty, maybe middling good ways for messy play without too much mess eg shaving foam which mayencourage parent to take the next step to painting or gardening

[Nature'sKids!]

I think a lot of it has to do with the way we talk to children, ie. "don't climb, you *will* fall!"
instead it would help if we trusted our children a bit more. For eg,
My then 10 month old started climbing the loft ladders. Instead of freaking out I stood close behind him, but not too close as to distract him. He climbed almost all the way up then started calling to come down again. A couple more times and he managed to come down himself.

As parents / carers we often step in too much. Two boys playing rough and tumble can sometimes look like real arguing / fighting until they break up an start laughing! So observing more and interfering less could help.

My dad watched a film which had sumo ringers in it and afterwards I wanted to fight with him the same way. So we got down and did the whole "throwing the sand, stamping feet etc" and then I always managed to win!! Lol

Parents rough an tumbling with kids works better sometimes as they are more in control.

In tribes kids would watch their elders practice fighting for survival and pick up on this, soon picking up sticks etc and "fighting" with their peers. Thus practicing their skills, and parents wouldn't take the stick off them and tell them to be careful or tell them they're going to hurt themselves. (generally telling chikdren they're going to fall, hurt themselves, drop something is likely to result in that happening as it's almost like subliminal messaging. Tell a child often enough he is clumsy and he'll start to believe it and act on it.)

Instead show them how to do things safely. Martial arts is always good, pillow fights in bed are great fun and pretty harmless.

[T0ffee]

I think children need to learn that it's ok to try new things, ask parents to encourage going out for walks in wellies and in the rain, exploring and allowing children to jump of gates and other obstacles.

We learnt about forest schools, if you get a chance read Maynards review on forest schools-'natures kids' it kind of emulates what you were saying about allowing children to risk assess things themselves. It is hard to understand that teaching the carers and practitioners to allow children to make mistakes is not normal teaching practice but reading Maynards review makes it more understandable!!