[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-595288-105":59,"doc-detail-595288-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-resilience-factor-rethinking-risk-in-childrens-play","The Resilience Factor - Rethinking Risk in Children’s Play","","Risky play strengthens resilience and supports children’s lifelong physical, mental, and emotional well-being, yet safety-centered expectations often restrict schools from offering it. The article argues that educators’ beliefs about risk, limited training, and restrictive policies reduce opportunities for healthy risk-taking and unstructured problem-solving. By shifting to a balanced safety approach—allowing manageable risks, guided emotional support, and school-wide culture changes—schools can enhance children’s social-emotional, cognitive, and developmental growth while preparing them for adult challenges.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-resilience-factor-rethinking-risk-in-childrens-play/595288/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-resilience-factor-rethinking-risk-in-childrens-play/595288.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Blitz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"Why is risky play considered important for children’s development?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Risky play helps children build resilience, develop prosocial skills, and support long-term physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It also supports skills such as decision-making, perseverance, self-awareness, and independence.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What factors limit schools’ ability to provide risky play opportunities?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Overemphasis on safety, educators’ risk-averse beliefs, lack of training, and restrictive school policies reduce opportunities. Adults and caregivers may also lack foundational understanding of play, risk, and how to identify meaningful risk in spaces and activities.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does a “balanced approach” to safety in playgrounds involve?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It focuses safety efforts on minimizing life-threatening hazards while creating spaces that encourage creativity, exploration, and problem-solving. The approach shifts from excessive supervision and structure toward independent unstructured play with support through emotional discomfort.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595288,1792208859,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":44,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","REFEREED ARTICLE  \nThe Resilience Factor: Rethinking Risk in Children’s Play  \nDeanne Kuehn  \nAbstract  \nRisky play helps children build resilience, develop prosocial skills, and support lifelong physical, mental, and emotional well-being. However, societal overemphasis on safety often limits schools’ willingness to embrace risky play. Educators’ beliefs about risk, lack of training, and restrictive school policies further reduce opportunities for healthy risk-taking and unstructured problem-solving. By rethinking safety and adopting a balanced approach, schools can create meaningful play opportunities that enhance children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development, fostering well-rounded growth.  \nRisky play – thrilling acts that push boundaries and carry a possibility of injury – is vital for raising happy, healthy children who are equipped to face life’s challenges and thrive in an unpredictable world. However, societal expectations often restrict these opportunities, requiring educators to reevaluate safety protocol and embrace practices that nurture healthy risk-taking. Schools need a balanced safety approach that includes manageable risks and opportunities in order to help children build problem-solving skills and confidence for adulthood. Caregivers must reflect on their own risk tolerance and establish an understanding of foundational concepts, to facilitate experiences that allow children to explore their capabilities. Schools have a crucial role in creating a culture that encourages purposeful, developmentally rich play. Rethinking safety and adopting a balanced approach to risk in play can promote children’s growth, highlighting the importance of shifting adult perceptions, identifying opportunities for meaningful risk, and implementing school-wide strategies that support healthy play.  \nRisky play is essential for children’s health and development. It reduces stress, boosts creativity, and strengthens mental wellness, resilience, and overall well-being (Harper & Obee, 2021) . Risky play also helps children to nurture important skills such as decision-making, perseverance, self-awareness, and independence (Cevher-Kalburan, 2015) . Without it, children may avoid challenges, become more sedentary, and face increased vulnerability to obesity, chronic disease, and mental illness (Harper & Obee, 2021; Obee et al. , 2021) . Risky play contributes to a solid foundation for lifelong health and growth.  \nSeveral problems interfere with children engaging in risky unstructured play. There is an over-emphasis on safety in children’s playspaces, activities, and interactions. Adults hold riskaverse perspectives that limit children from having positive experiences with risk. Caregivers lack a foundational understanding of play, risk, and challenge, and are inexperienced with identifying opportunities for risk in play elements and spaces. School policies and playground rules restrict risky free play at school. A multifaceted approach to foster risk and free play in schools addresses misconceptions of safety, encourages adults to rethink their perceptions on risk, establishes an understanding of opportunities for risk, and calls for school-wide shifts.  \nMisconceptions of Safety  \nA balanced approach to safety should include manageable risks and opportunities for independent exploration, in order to prepare children for the challenges they will face in adulthood. Playgrounds today are designed to minimize injury, but in doing so, they fail to engage children in active play, hindering their physical and social development. While adults often believe that organized activities offer the safest play opportunities, research shows that unstructured play results in fewer injuries while supporting critical social and emotional growth.  \n30 BU Journal of Graduate Studies in Education, Volume 17, Issue 2, 2025  \nThe increasing focus on emotional safety has led to missed opportunities for children to practise resilience and other crucial ","cbCaisnCjzbQFwSh","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaisnCjzbQFwSh","pdf",72452,"English","# Abstract\n## Risky play and resilience\n## Barriers to risky unstructured play\n## Misconceptions of safety","[{\"question\":\"Why is risky play considered important for children’s development?\",\"answer\":\"Risky play helps children build resilience, develop prosocial skills, and support long-term physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It also supports skills such as decision-making, perseverance, self-awareness, and independence.\"},{\"question\":\"What factors limit schools’ ability to provide risky play opportunities?\",\"answer\":\"Overemphasis on safety, educators’ risk-averse beliefs, lack of training, and restrictive school policies reduce opportunities. Adults and caregivers may also lack foundational understanding of play, risk, and how to identify meaningful risk in spaces and activities.\"},{\"question\":\"What does a “balanced approach” to safety in playgrounds involve?\",\"answer\":\"It focuses safety efforts on minimizing life-threatening hazards while creating spaces that encourage creativity, exploration, and problem-solving. The approach shifts from excessive supervision and structure toward independent unstructured play with support through emotional discomfort.\"}]","The Resilience Factor - Rethinking Risk in Children’s Play | PDF",1792080782,23]