One of the solutions to the record rates of teenage psychological distress, could be through 'child's play'. It's the opportunity for outdoor play and freedom, which has shrunk in recent decades. A recent study showed only 20% of Australian teens played outdoors most days, while 70% played on digital devices. Parents are being urged to allow and encourage 'risky play' and even embrace the old mantra "better a broken bone than a broken spirit."
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00At this adventure playground, children find their inner light.
00:19Making mistakes is A-OK in this temple to risky play.
00:28We don't of course want anyone to have a broken bone, but we want them to show us their spirit
00:33and to climb that tree, to run at speeds.
00:37It's called the Veni and for 50 years it's been an urban sanctuary in the shadows of
00:42Melbourne's public housing towers.
00:45I feel safe here, knowing that I can just be myself and play.
00:50There's fire and toasted marshmallows, trampolines, bikes and ramps, the odd brews, as well as
00:58animals to pet.
01:00All the hallmarks of childhoods of old that are increasingly hard to find in busy cities.
01:06The main thing about this is that all these things feel beautiful for the children, incredible
01:11feelings of achievement and that buzz of adrenaline when you climb, when you feel like you can
01:17conquer something.
01:18Do you think I can do a front flip right now?
01:20Fatima Hadji Ali started coming to the Veni as an 8-year-old and loved it so much she
01:26ended up working here.
01:27Yes!
01:28Muscle memory!
01:32One of 11 children, Fatima says risky play at the Veni transformed her life.
01:38Seeing myself, you know, completing things, whether even if it was trial and error was
01:42involved, it didn't stop me.
01:45I tried another method or I tried to build this or I tried to create this and it really
01:49built resilience, that's what it did for me.
01:55The challenge is that places like this are increasingly rare, but David and his team
02:01say healthy danger is needed now more than ever.
02:05By having fire and running and by climbing and by playing with water and by having rough
02:12and tumble, which I just saw you do before.
02:17Risky play isn't just about squeals of delight.
02:21Child health experts overseas say that it's as important as getting a good night's sleep
02:25and having a good diet and they want Australia to start taking risky play seriously.
02:32Paediatrician Dr Anthea Rhodes says emerging research shows a link between risky play and
02:38better mental health in teenage years.
02:41Perhaps if a kid hasn't had those opportunities, they might be more likely to be overwhelmed
02:46or become anxious when they're faced with similar challenges in a real world environment.
02:50Okay, we're going to cross this way, so we've got to wait at the bus.
02:57Across town, Peter Currie, dad of Harriet and Patrick, has found his kids can practice
03:03risky play just about anywhere.
03:05Dad!
03:06Yeah?
03:07Watch this.
03:08Okay.
03:09Whoa.
03:10Running down a hill as fast as you can, walking along a sea wall, looking down at the rocks
03:17below.
03:18Risky play like this might alarm some parents, but Peter says there's a payoff.
03:24Their behaviour did change when they came home.
03:26They were far more relaxed, happy and positive.
03:30Push up and then you balance along.
03:33As his little ones turn into teenagers, Peter plans to adapt risky play to be age appropriate.
03:40Eventually that will lead to walking to the shops to buy an ice cream, just like I used
03:45to do in the 80s.
03:46Solutions to seemingly intractable problems in everyday locations.
03:51She's pretending to be, what, a lion?
03:55Wild.
03:56Wild.
03:57Just add a little imagination and relax the rules.