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On Ringworld, children have the opportunity to take risks and engage in adventures that they might not be able to otherwise. Why is this so important?

Risk taking in play is different to risk taking not in play. Because in play we know that no one has the right to criticise us if something turns out different than we had planned. If anyone does try and criticise us because it has “gone wrong” or we have hurt ourselves, we can turn around and either say “so what” or “it was meant to be like that”. How often have you seen children fall off something and dust themselves off and say to themselves or with friends “I meant to do that”. Then having found out that they can fall off without hurting too much they make a game of jumping off.

When a child plays, they are experiencing things on their own terms. Because it is their play, the meaning and importance of things that happen in that play is up to them. Therefore doing something that they might not manage ‘perfectly’ or where they might feel a little bit upset is OK. In fact it is more than OK, it is often very very exciting and exhilarating because it is up to them if they do it or not and it is up to them how they feel about it while they are doing it and afterwards.

 

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