After two years of being kept indoors more often because of COVID-19, there are many three- and four-year-olds who can't go down a slippery dip on their own, a University of Wollongong researcher says.
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Associate Professor Rachel Jones, an expert in children's physical activity and development with a focus on ages 0-5, said children's risk taking was "at an all-time low as a result of COVID".
"What we've seen is that children are not taking risks anymore, and we've got lots of children now who can't go down a slippery slide, for example, and they can only go down a slide with their parents," she said.
"We've got three- and four-year-olds who can just not do that anymore, and there is a whole cohort of children who have lost this sense of risk and risk-taking because they have been encouraged so much to spend time inside."
Risk-taking at playgrounds has become a talking point this week, after Shell Cove mum Tisha Fleming spoke out about her four-year-old daughter India breaking both her legs on a slide at Berry's popular new playground.
Ms Fleming said India was coming down the slide with her dad, Ben, when her shoes got caught on the roof of the slide and her legs hyperextended, breaking her tibias.
Shoalhaven City Council will review the Boongaree Nature Play Park, after Ms Fleming raised her safety concerns and said she had been told of dozens of other injuries being caused at the park.
The story has prompted debate among Mercury readers about safety at playgrounds, with some saying the Berry park is too dangerous and others saying kids need to be able to play freely.
While Prof Jones did not comment on the specific park's safety - except to say parks were required to comply with Australian standards, she said researchers and educators were keen to encourage appropriately risky play for kids.
"Perhaps now more than ever, it's really important to encourage risk," she said.
"I would certainly advocate for children having risky play, having challenges, and advocate for parents being involved in these situations. But it's also about parents being able to say 'I'm going to let them go for a bit by themselves and see how they go'."
She said kids aged between three and five needed developmentally appropriate risks, which might look like going down a slide, climbing a tree or walking on wobbly rocks in a nature play area.
Prof Jones said this helped with muscle development, as well as cognitive and social development, and provided children with "a great sense of achievement".
She said it could also prompt important discussions with parents and educators about how kids felt after participating in risky activities.
"We often don't realise how able and capable our young children are in what they can do," she said.
"But risk needs to be taken with parents in sight, and parents need to be close to the risk."
"It's a learnt trait for parents to know where to step in and where not to step in, which is a really hard thing to know. Sometimes you'll step in when it's too late and our children learn by falling over and scratching themselves."
She also said having parents join in with their kids running, jumping, climbing and sliding was "highly beneficial".
"We know there's a great thing about parents joining in with their children in play and risky play," she said.
"It's a highly beneficial part of kids play experience. I think the problem is when parents are not just going down the slide to join in the play, but because they're scared of safety."
Prof Jones noted many new playgrounds, like the one at Berry, were designed to provide an entire "play space" or experience for kids, by combining nature play with textural experiences and musical instruments.
"There's a move towards these play spaces, so it's not your typical slide or swing that you may have seen in the 70s or 80s, they are much more about texture, experiences and challenge," she said.
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