Too Safe For Their Own Good?, Second Edition: Helping children learn about risk and life skills - Softcover

Jennie Lindon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1907969144 ISBN 13: 9781907969140

Publisher: National Children's Bureau, 2011

Synopsis

Young children have only a limited understanding of the risks that surround them, so they fall over, bang their heads, scrape their knees and worse. Adults often try to create a risk-free environment, but this can reduce children's opportunities to manage their own risk, making it difficult for them to learn how to judge new situations. Children's learning about risk starts in the very early years and lasts throughout childhood. Teaching children how to keep themselves safe is the responsibility of parents and practitioners. This practical guide shows how adults can share their own skills with young children and promote understanding of safety within an interesting learning environment. The book looks at: putting risk into perspective; how children learn to take care of themselves; how to support children after accidents and avoiding preventable accidents; and, working in partnership with parents. Written for the full range of practitioners involved with children, it will support them to take the middle path of offering enough challenge to benefit children, while avoiding the extremes of over-protection or careless practice.

About this title

Review

This is a very welcome second edition of a book that has been enormously popular since it was first published over 10 years ago. The theme of the book - the importance of helping young children to learn about risk and life skills - has not changed, but the text has been completely reworked to ensure it fully reflects current thinking and key issue. There are new examples to learn from, many of which look at current approaches to promoting young children's learning in and through nature. The author speaks authoritatively and convincingly about the importance of young children being able to learn through practical experiences how to manage risk in order to keep themselves safe. This, along with the many practical examples quoted, is of enormous help to the practitioner searching for ways to ensure they fulfil their responsibility for 'teaching children step by step how to keep themselves safe'. This new edition is attractively presented and packed with information that is easy to access through the inclusion of a detailed contents list and a comprehensive index. This book is highly recommended for use in every early years setting and, as it covers the age range up to eight, every primary school too. --Early Years Update 94: December 2011/January 2012

Too Safe For Their Own Good? is a great book for anyone who seeks to enable children to move towards being competent and confident adults. The first edition made a huge contribution to the debate around children and risk. Over ten years later, this timely new edition assesses recent developments and re-examines the issues of the first edition. The book is written for the full range of practitioners involved day by day with children. It includes up to date examples showing how thoughtful practice can create a genuinely interesting learning environment in which children can be safe enough to take manageable risks. It looks at: how children learn to take care of themselves; putting risk into perspective; physical play and exploration; how to support children after accidents and avoiding preventable accidents; how adults can share their own skills with children to promote their understanding of safety; and working in partnership with parents. Looking at the role of the media in influencing adult fears for children and then discussing our increasingly risk averse society, Jennie advocates that parents and practitioners need to enable children to learn to judge situations for themselves. The section about keeping children safe without endangering them through over-protection is thoroughly updated and new perspectives such as risk-benefit analysis and a proportionate response to possible dangers are welcome additions. The new edition also covers the increased professional awareness of the importance of outdoor and natural world experiences, which is of particular relevance to playworkers. Too safe for their own good? Will support practitioners to take the middle path of offering enough challenge to benefit children, while avoiding the extremes of over-protection or careless practice. --Play Today, Summer 2011

From the Author

Jennie Lindon is a chartered psychologist and early years consultant. She has run her own training and consultancy business for most of her professional career and has specialised in working with services for children and their families, in particular children under five years old. She has written over 30 books, and is committed to writing about best practice that shows active respect for the needs and perspective of children and young people.

About this edition

• Publisher: National Children's Bureau
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1907969144
• ISBN 13: 9781907969140
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 88