Caution: Allowing Children to Play with “Dangerous” Materials might Cause Unintentional Learning & Lead to a Lifetime of Fun

Posted by SuperADDMom on August 18, 2009

Yes, you read that right, and let me be the first to admit that I let my kids play with dangerous things.

OMGZ!! I’m a terrible mother! But wait! Why not read the rest before you go calling the appropriate authorities on me. I let them do it for their own good. If you are still worried when I’ve said my peice, I’ll give you the “evidence” you need to know just how terrible a mother I really am!

Looking back, I think sometimes that people didn’t see my learning disabilities/ADHD and audio processing issues as a kid because I was outside a lot playing, doing the things of my own accord, just being a kid.

You know, doing the things, that we as parents now with kids with these same kinds of issues pay people who call themselves occupational therapists a LOT of money to schedule into their daily routine as therapy.

We pay them to first figure out what kind of PLAY will best help our kids issues, and then we pay them more to get our kids to play on padded mats in rooms with trained spotters and safety equipment, and guess what…our kids usually HATE it, because it is associated with their “issues that need to be fixed”

It is sad, that it has come to us paying to practically force our kids to finger paint and stick their hands in beans, tumble and roll, and jump and climb up plastic fake rock walls and listen to music.

When I was a kid that was free, how moms just knew what to do to keep kids busy and something I WANTED to do even if my mom DIDN’T want me to.

We live rural and we somehow manage to survive on a pretty low disability income due to my husband’s health. Affording occupational therapy for my kids numerous  sensory issues is out of our financial reach and not covered by our government, as well as too far away physically to even afford to GET to, never mind pay for.

So, I do what worked for me when I was a kid. I just let my kids be kids.

Our back yard is our therapy room. I’m working on recreating a space in our workshop for the winter months when outdoors are too cold for daily events.

When my son starts spinning in the kitchen for vestibular stimulation, or stands on the furniture and sits on the rocking chair upside down to watch TV because his “brain can’t make him stop” I send him outside to jump and play, and be a kid. OR if i can’t send him outside,I have what I didn’t have as a kid to help him, a round of Wii Fit jogging, on the Wii.

I’m not a lisenced occupational therapist, but it is not rocket science folks. I’ve read dozens or more books on this stuff, I have two active kids with sensory issues, and my own issues to be my case studies. I have read dozens of websites on therapy related products and what they “accomplish” when used on kids with my kids sensory issues and can figure out for myself what I can do at home to accomplish the same thing for free or cheaper.

Being an occupational therapist means figuring out what things a person needs help with, and giving them exercises to benefit them and help them improve or maintain ability. I call it being an “Ability Growth Coach™” , and it is pretty simple.

As my kids Ability Coach, I let them play with rocks, and sticks. They take mud and cake it together with leaves and make pies. I let them play in the backyard with wood and rope, and build a teeter totter.

They swing on rope swings I’ve made them for nothing for sensory stimulation that calms their nervous systems and slows the hyperactivity down, and I even let them figure out gravity for themselves when they stand and balance on an old bike rim and topple off.

I let them climb trees without being duct taped in bubble wrap for protection. I even let them play on an old rusty metal play set at our local drive-in.

All in the name of Therapy… ahh who am I kidding, I let them do it because they love it, and it is fun, and it is what they want to do.

Kids generally know their limits and will safely test their limitations out…they won’t climb higher in the tree than they feel comfortable with. If they do, they’ll fear it for a bit, puzzle it out, and usually eventually figure out a way to get down on their own.

I’m tired of our society limiting my choices available to me as a parent by banning and/or by creating new laws and standards everyday we must adhere to, or fear the dreadful knock on the door from CAS/CPS because some busy body neighbor thinks we are allowing our kid to play unsafely or “unsupervised” (i.e. not having one eyeball glued to the kids butt)

I’m tired of our governments thinking we need to save us from ourselves. But I guess when you cannot ban stupidity or carelessness in humans, the next best thing is to protect them from themselves.

Yes, over the last 25 years since I was my own occupational therapist as a kid, other kids have been hurt badly or killed by things we no longer allow. I have my own battle scars and stories for each one of my own injuries.

Sure, it was likely unecessary for them to have been hurt/killed.I’m sure you probably know someone personally who was. I’m not heartless. It is sad when someone dies or gets hurtfor any reason. But, if I took the time to break them down for you here (I have done it before) the stats on such things is miniscule. The number of incidents are so minimal when you average out the population number in total, and the numbers hurt by any one thing, you’d have better chances of being killed on the way home tonight from work. So, why are we not banning cars?

My kids love  to play. Ya, maybe they get a scrape or a bruise here or there,  splinter, a thumb hammered accidently,but they are learning and they are not in real danger. They are also learning when they get a splinter, how NOT to do that again, and how to get out a splinter and treat the wound without running off to the ER like they’ve severed a limb.

IT amazes me how my kids fall down and bump themselves, check with me, get some hugs and a “you’re ok” first aid when I assess they are ok, and  they pick up and keep going when some other kids cry for a half hour and the parent is off to the ER concerned about a concussion, while blaming the equipment the kid was on for being unsafe.

The equipment isn’t “unsafe”. It’s  always a “risk” like everything in life. Their assessment of the situation, and handeling of the outcome just sucks. THOSE kinds of parents are who got merry go rounds, and slides that are “too high and dangerous” outlawed. Those are the kind of people that got baby walkers banned in Canada.

GROAN!

So, I’ll get off my soapbox now, but here’s the evidence if you want to call the local authorities on me…this is my kids this afternoon playing, I mean doing their therapy. Not ONLY did they do that, but it was a homeschooling lesson as well in math, physics, engineering, constructing/industrial arts, phys-ed, Leadership skills, team work skills, and they don’t even know it!

What they don’t realize they are doing will do them a lifetime of good.