Although learning to take risks is a normal part of childhood and child development, keeping children safe is also a concern for adults who care for children. These apparently conflicting issues serve as the basis for this study.The aim of this study was to understand how early childhood education and care settings in Norway prevent injury and how the increasing focus on safety has influenced children's play.
Norwegians have traditionally been more supportive of risk taking in children's play than other Western countries. This more relaxed attitude towards risky play is now been threatened by Western society's growing concerns about safety and by the debate about the extent to which adults should regulate children's play.
To gain a better understanding of how a focus on safety was influencing children's play in Norway, a questionnaire was sent by email to 6,469 managers of early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Managers from 2,105 settings completed the questionnaire, but only 879 were used in this study. In choosing which responses to include, care was taken to match the geographical distribution of preschools throughout the country, the number of private and municipal programs, the proportion of male to female employees, and the number of children and their gender and age.
In addition to gathering information about the number, nature, and severity of play-related injuries, the questionnaire also asked for information about how the ECEC settings worked to prevent injury and how a focus on safety influenced play and activities in the ECEC setting.
In analysis, the text of each response was read thoroughly and coded thematically. These codes were then categorized into broader clusters by theme. From a total of twenty factors that limited children's physically active play, six subcategories were identified: (1) play and activities, (2) outdoor space, (3) water, (4) field trips, (5) weather and seasonal conditions, and (6) other limitations in physically active play.
Fear of injury was the most often cited reason for placing limits on children's physically active play. Climbing was the most often restricted activity; others include sledding, balancing, biking, ice skating, rough-and-tumble play, and playing in and near water. Some limits were related to worries about safety by managers and staff; others related to outside forces that pressure the institution to restrict physically active play, including local authorities, playground inspectors, the media, and parents.
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