An 800 word short on the importance of bikes for children's independent mobility and a bit of chopper envy.
"I kept saying to him, ‘Don’t let go, don’t let go!’ and he replied repeatedly, I won’t!’ with me never realising at the key moment that his replies were getting fainter and fainter."
A biographical short on why sometimes the best intentions can hinder rather than help.
"His support staff had noticed this was making it difficult for him to get around independently in his old unpowered chair. So, to help him his school decided to put some of his support money towards buying him an electric wheelchair."
900 words on what happens when a five year old spots an aging playworker while trying to balance along a low wall, with a bit of a more than 100-year-old theory thrown in to boot.
a \‘shȯrt-rēd’\ piece
"It is at this point that she noticed me walking towards the pair with shopping bag in hand and we briefly made eye contact – and something happened. Question is, what?"
900 words about what we, the adult in a playspace, should be doing while there are children playing all around us. Vygotsky gets a mention as does a playwork pioneer.
"We have had many positive developments in an early learning and forest school context in how adults see their role in recent decades. What was the ‘teacher’ has, in many respects become the ‘educator’, for example, and that has clearly been a considered move; and yet ‘educator’ still implies ‘educate’."
"Posing a question in 2005 Paul Martin said, “We all say we want children to be happy, but it is a notoriously elusive aspect of human existence. How can parents help children to maximise their chances of being happy people?"
This piece questions our perception of 'quality time' in children's lives and challenges the idea that what children need most is to spend more time in parental company. It highlights the findings of a number of surveys and studies, gives IKEA a shout-out and name drops some significant thinkers on this topic.
