Too Safe For Their Own Good?, Second Edition: Helping children learn about risk and life skills

Adults often try to create a risk-free environment for children, but this can reduce their opportunities to manage their own risk, making it difficult for them to learn how to judge new situations. This practical guide shows how adults can share their own skills with young children and promote understanding of safety within an interesting learning environment. The first edition made a huge contribution to the debate around children and risk. Over ten years later, this new edition thoroughly re-examines the issues of the first edition and assesses recent developments such as risk-benefit analysis and the importance of outdoor experiences. Written for the full range of practitioners involved with children, it will support them to take the middle path of offering enough challenge to benefit children, while avoiding the extremes of over-protection or careless practice.

About the Author :
Jennie Lindon is a chartered psychologist and early years consultant. Jennie has over 30 years' experience of working with the different types of early years provision for children and families and has published widely. She is committed to writing about best practice that shows active respect for the needs and perspective of children. Her books all have a strong underpinning of development and the importance of realistic adult expectations.

Review :
This is a very welcome second edition of a book that has been enormously popular since it was first published over 10 years ago. The theme of the book - the importance of helping young children to learn about risk and life skills - has not changed, but the text has been completely reworked to ensure it fully reflects current thinking and key issue. There are new examples to learn from, many of which look at current approaches to promoting young children's learning in and through nature. The author speaks authoritatively and convincingly about the importance of young children being able to learn through practical experiences how to manage risk in order to keep themselves safe. This, along with the many practical examples quoted, is of enormous help to the practitioner searching for ways to ensure they fulfil their responsibility for 'teaching children step by step how to keep themselves safe'. This book is highly recommended for use in every early years setting and, as it covers the age range up to eight, every primary school too.