Child’s Play Dr Rachael Sharman Psychology

How to grow a successful human Adaptability Resilience (high failure tolerance) Social Skills Processing speed Personality Problem solver Creative thinker Innovator

We are a most remarkable species

Brain strain!

What skills do you want your child to develop?

In the face of challenge or failure, why do some people wilt and wither away, while others roll up their sleeves and try again, try harder, or try something different? A very modern problem

Happiness Anger Interest Joy Love Motivational Emotions Sadness Fear Disgust Approach Avoid

Emotions Very strong, very primitive Mostly right, but sometimes wrong Our biology creates emotions that can drive our performance in challenging situations: cirMEghttps:// cirMEg

Approach vs Avoid The importance of failure in building lifelong approach motivation The case of the missed tackle: –Why did one boy go forward and one boy drop back?

Where/how and from what do you receive your rewards in life? Failure: do over, do again, do something different –What did I do wrong? –What do I need to do differently next time to succeed? –How do I manage my emotions? –What did I learn about myself? Fail-based learning

Psychological well-being Autonomy (independence, self-directed activity, choice, freedom, risk-taking) Competence (moderate challenge, responsibility for success and failure = resilience, problem solving, creativity) Relatedness (social skills, co-operation, teamwork)

Outdoor/Nature Play True adaptation; problem-solving in groups Access to “green space” consistently shows links to: better physical health; lower rates of ADHD; better self-regulation; better stress management.

What say the science? Is sitting the new smoking? Over 2 hours screen time each day = fat and unhappy children (Hands et al, 2011;Page et al, 2010; Prentice-Dunn, 2011) Physical activity results in smarter kids e.g., 6% improvement on test scores in children assigned to PA group compared to 1% decline in controls (Donnelly & Lambourne, 2011) Nature Deficit Disorder: just how many childhood psychological disorders could be “cured” by regular access to Outdoor/Nature Play?

What about the fun police? Sydney Playground Project let kids loose in a OH&S nightmare of 44 gallon drums, ropes, tyres, milk crates etc in unstructured play: –Reduction in fighting and bullying –Creative children became the new alphas –Exercise and PA increased

Auckland and Otago University research: primary schools across NZ banned playground “rules” –Fewer incidents of bullying needing teacher intervention (improved relatedness) –Kids learned to take risks and evaluate consequences (frontal lobe development, improved competence) –Drop in vandalism and serious injuries (self-discipline, self-control, taking responsibility, improved autonomy) –Ottowa study (31, 000 children) found no head/neck injuries from playground play over 2 year period. Broken limbs etc 1.5 injuries per 10, 000 hours of play What about the Parents?

What about the Lawyers? Remove them from any system that responds to playground/sporting injury – seriously. /

What about the Research? 8 th June 2015 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Position Statement: “in response to practitioner, academic, legal, insurance and public debate, dialogue and disagreement on the relative benefits and harms of active (including risky) outdoor play” Their conclusion? “Access to active play in nature and outdoors, with its risks, is essential for healthy child development. We recommend increasing children’s opportunities for self-directed play outdoors in all settings, at home, at school, in child care, the community and nature.”

No failure = no resilience “He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery” Samuel Smiles “The successful man will profit from his mistakes, and try again in a different way” Dale Carnegie “If you are going through hell, keep going” Winston Churchill “Fall seven times, stand up eight” Japanese proverb

Failure and resilience – will put some fight in your dog