Are We Raising Children Who Are Afraid to Try?

What I Have Seen Change in 40 Years of Education and Why It Matters for Our Children

The Childhood I Remember...

Over more than forty years in education, I have watched childhood change in ways I do not think we have fully understood. When I first began teaching, children moved constantly. They climbed trees, rode bikes, played outside for hours, built huts, kicked balls, ran around playgrounds, balanced on fences, dug in gardens, made up games, argued, negotiated, solved problems and came home tired, dirty and full of stories.

At the time, we simply called this childhood.

We did not always recognise that all of this movement, risk-taking, outdoor play and physical freedom was doing something incredibly important. It was building children’s brains. It was developing balance, coordination, body awareness, emotional regulation, resilience, confidence, visual tracking, core strength, social skills and the neurological foundations needed for learning.

Childhood Looks Different Today

Today, childhood looks very different.

Many families are busier than ever before. In many homes, both parents are working. Days are tightly scheduled, commutes are longer, and children are spending more time being transported from one place to another.

Instead of walking, biking, climbing, running, scootering, kicking balls or spending long afternoons at the park, many children are spending more time in car seats, on devices, inside homes and sitting for longer periods of time.

This is not about blaming parents. Modern family life is demanding, and most parents are doing their very best within the pressures they face.

But as educators, we have to be brave enough to ask what has changed in children’s daily lives and how those changes may be impacting their development.

Children Need Movement to Develop

One of the biggest shifts I have seen is the reduction in natural movement.

Children were never designed to be sedentary. Their bodies need to move and their brains develop through movement.

Before a child can sit still, they need many opportunities to run, climb, roll, swing, spin, balance and jump.

Before a child can write well, they need strong shoulders, stable core muscles, hand strength and good coordination.

Before a child can read with ease, they need visual tracking skills and the ability for both eyes to work together.

Before a child can focus, their nervous system needs to be organized and regulated.

The Question Is Not Technology — It's What Technology Replaces

This is where the impact of screens becomes important.

Technology itself is not the enemy. Screens are now part of modern life, and children need digital skills as they grow.

The concern is not simply that children are using technology.
The concern is what screen time may be replacing.

Every hour spent sitting on a device can become an hour not spent outside climbing, digging, running, creating, building, imagining or interacting with real people and real environments.

Children learn through their whole body. They learn by touching, moving, falling, trying again, balancing, judging distance, taking risks, solving problems and engaging the world around them.

When these experiences reduce, the foundations that support learning can be affected.

What I Am Seeing in Today's Classrooms

In classrooms today, I see more children who struggle to sit comfortably, more children who find it difficult to focus, more children who appear emotionally overwhelmed, more children with poor coordination, weaker core strength, sensory processing challenges, fine motor delays and difficulty with handwriting.

I see children who are bright and capable but whose bodies are not yet ready for the learning demands placed upon them.

Looking Beneath the Behaviour

Often these children are described as inattentive, disruptive, anxious, clumsy, lazy or difficult.

But when we look beneath the behaviour, we often see something else.

We see children whose nervous system are struggling.

We see children who have not had enough movement to build the physical and neurological foundations needed for learning.

We see children who are trying to cope in a world that asks them to sit still before their bodies are ready.

The Loss of Unstructured Play

Unstructured outdoor play has also changed.

Years ago, children has far more freedom to create their own play. They made up games, solved disagreements, took manageable risks and learned how to work things out without adults constantly directing them.

These experiences helped children build resilience, social confidence, independence, imagination and problem-solving skills.

Today, many children’s lives are more adult-managed, more screen-based and more sedentary, and we are seeing the impact of that loss.

Protecting the Parts of Childhood That Matter

The answer is not to return completely to the past.

The world has changed, and we cannot pretend it has not.

But we do need to protect the parts of childhood that children still desperately need.

Children need movement every day. They need outdoor play.

They need time at parks, on bikes, on scooters, kicking balls, climbing, swinging, running, digging, building and exploring.

They need opportunities to use their bodies so their brains can develop the foundations required for learning, behaviour and emotional wellbeing.

Small Changes Make a Big Difference

Small changes can make a significant difference.

A walk after dinner, ten minutes of movement before school, a trip to the playground, kicking a ball together, climbing at the park, dancing in the lounge, crawling through obstacle courses, balancing on logs, building huts or simply spending more time outside can all help children reconnect with the movement their bodies and brains need.

Childhood Is Still the Foundation

After forty years in education, I am more convinced than ever that children do not become resilient by accident. They become resilient because they are given opportunities to practise resilience. They do not become confident risk-takers by being protected from every challenge.

They become confident when they are supported to try, explore, test, fail, recover and try again.

The early years are where these foundations are laid. If we remove too much movement, too much outdoor play, too much risk, too much challenge and too much real-world problem-solving from children’s lives, we should not be surprised when they struggle to cope with difficulty later on..

Our children need us to bring childhood back into balance. They need less passive screen time and more active play.

They need fewer sedentary hours and more movement.They need fewer instant answers and more opportunities to solve problems. They need fewer adults doing everything for them and more adults who believe they are capable.

Because when children climb, run, build, fall, argue, negotiate, persist, create, try and try again, they are not just playing. They are becoming resilient.

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