Many are of the opinion that children are suffering under an “excessive risk-averse” culture in schools that is damaging their ability to cope in the real world.
Coping with risk and danger is a key part of a child’s education and so, should this feature as part of the school curriculum?
With a school banning frilly socks for health and safety reasons – fearing they would trip over, are we at risk of creating a culture where people expect to be looked after? Will we create a generation reliant on others taking responsibility for risk, as opposed to individuals safeguarding themselves?
Traditional games such as Tag and British Bulldog are banned in more than one in four schools and some schools even ban the throwing of snowballs.
Is it not time to end “bureaucratic” behaviour and encourage children to climb trees and play games that have mild risk?
Of course we need to protect our children but, we also need to enable them to learn to handle risk, so they are equipped to deal with the realities of life, the workplace, the world; able to discern real risk from trivia and with the basic skills necessary to exercise judgement.